Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd Purchases New Position in Popular, Inc. $BPOP

Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new stake in Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP) in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 44,115 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $5,919,000.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of BPOP. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Popular by 56.2% during the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,962,871 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $376,314,000 after purchasing an additional 1,065,452 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Popular in the 4th quarter valued at $104,955,000. Panagora Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Popular by 85.2% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. boosted its holdings in Popular by 2,752.6% during the third quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 312,447 shares of the bank’s stock worth $39,684,000 after buying an additional 301,494 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC grew its position in Popular by 12,382.7% during the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 258,517 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $32,191,000 after buying an additional 256,446 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 research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Popular from $141.00 to $163.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on Popular from $173.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Popular from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Citigroup lifted their price target on Popular from $178.00 to $188.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 25th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on Popular from $155.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Popular presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $171.18.

Popular Price Performance

NASDAQ BPOP opened at $167.26 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $154.07 and its 200-day simple moving average is $141.26. The company has a market cap of $10.79 billion, a PE ratio of 12.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 0.61. Popular, Inc. has a 1-year low of $108.74 and a 1-year high of $170.02.

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The bank reported $3.78 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.30 by $0.48. Popular had a return on equity of 14.53% and a net margin of 20.10%.The firm had revenue of $816.08 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $866.54 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.56 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Popular, Inc. will post 15.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Popular Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 29th were paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 29th. Popular’s payout ratio is 22.16%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Maria Cristin Gonzalez-Noguera sold 6,200 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.51, for a total value of $920,762.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 11,255 shares in the company, valued at $1,671,480.05. This represents a 35.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Alejandro M. Sanchez sold 300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.36, for a total transaction of $45,108.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 3,960 shares in the company, valued at approximately $595,425.60. This represents a 7.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 29,500 shares of company stock valued at $4,415,870 in the last 90 days. 2.13% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.