Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP) Shares Acquired by Hsbc Holdings PLC

Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its holdings in shares of Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP) by 167.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 21,887 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 13,715 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC’s holdings in Popular were worth $2,058,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Popular by 7.3% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,054,849 shares of the bank’s stock worth $105,769,000 after buying an additional 71,782 shares in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Popular by 56.6% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 603 shares of the bank’s stock worth $57,000 after buying an additional 218 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV boosted its holdings in Popular by 1,719.6% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 37,775 shares of the bank’s stock worth $3,553,000 after buying an additional 35,699 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in Popular by 304.3% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 99,861 shares of the bank’s stock worth $10,042,000 after buying an additional 75,164 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in Popular by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,362,875 shares of the bank’s stock worth $128,192,000 after buying an additional 39,999 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.27% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays restated an “overweight” rating and set a $125.00 target price (up from $115.00) on shares of Popular in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Hovde Group reduced their target price on shares of Popular from $118.00 to $114.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Popular from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $110.00 to $100.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of Popular from $122.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Popular from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $111.14.

Popular Stock Down 1.4 %

BPOP stock opened at $95.42 on Thursday. Popular, Inc. has a 12-month low of $78.23 and a 12-month high of $106.81. The company has a market cap of $6.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.15, a PEG ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a 50 day moving average of $90.68 and a two-hundred day moving average of $95.22.

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The bank reported $2.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.26 by $0.30. Popular had a net margin of 14.15% and a return on equity of 11.89%. The company had revenue of $755.46 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $760.45 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.43 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Popular, Inc. will post 10.06 EPS for the current year.

Popular Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 18th were issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 18th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.93%. Popular’s dividend payout ratio is currently 28.90%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Gilberto Monzon sold 9,600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $102.57, for a total transaction of $984,672.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 39,170 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,017,666.90. This trade represents a 19.68 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 2.09% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Popular Profile

Popular, Inc, through its subsidiaries, provides various retail, mortgage, and commercial banking products and services in Puerto Rico, the United States, and the British Virgin Islands. The company provides savings, NOW, money market, and other interest-bearing demand accounts; non-interest bearing demand deposits; and certificates of deposit.