Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) Director Alejandro Sanchez Sells 1,451 Shares

Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP) Director Alejandro Sanchez sold 1,451 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.85, for a total value of $204,373.35. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 3,415 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $481,002.75. This represents a 29.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Popular Stock Up 2.0%

Shares of NASDAQ:BPOP opened at $138.08 on Tuesday. Popular, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $78.23 and a fifty-two week high of $149.31. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $133.75 and its 200 day moving average price is $124.79. The stock has a market cap of $9.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 0.61.

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 27th. The bank reported $3.38 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.02 by $0.36. Popular had a net margin of 18.75% and a return on equity of 13.87%. The company had revenue of $806.59 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $811.55 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.51 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Popular, Inc. will post 10.06 EPS for the current year.

Popular Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 18th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 18th. Popular’s dividend payout ratio is 24.35%.

Institutional Trading of Popular

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Popular by 56.2% during the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,962,871 shares of the bank’s stock worth $376,314,000 after purchasing an additional 1,065,452 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Popular during the 2nd quarter worth $93,578,000. Panagora Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Popular by 85.2% in the 4th quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 680,282 shares of the bank’s stock worth $84,709,000 after buying an additional 312,984 shares during the period. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. boosted its holdings in Popular by 2,752.6% in the third quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 312,447 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $39,684,000 after acquiring an additional 301,494 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in Popular by 18.9% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,779,309 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $225,990,000 after acquiring an additional 283,000 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.27% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on BPOP. Hovde Group upped their price target on Popular from $153.00 to $176.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 28th. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of Popular from $153.00 to $164.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Popular from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of Popular from $146.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 28th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target on Popular from $161.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Popular currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $156.55.

About Popular

Popular, Inc, headquartered in San Juan, Puerto Rico, is a financial holding company and a leading provider of banking services in the United States mainland and Puerto Rico. Through its primary subsidiaries—Banco Popular de Puerto Rico and Popular Bank—the company delivers comprehensive commercial and consumer banking solutions. It offers deposit products, lending facilities, cash management services and payment-processing solutions designed for individuals, small businesses and large corporations.

The company’s product suite encompasses checking and savings accounts, certificates of deposit, residential and commercial mortgage loans, business lines of credit and credit cards.