Point72 Asset Management L.P. Buys 117,705 Shares of Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP)

Point72 Asset Management L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP) by 140.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 201,331 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 117,705 shares during the period. Point72 Asset Management L.P.’s holdings in Popular were worth $18,937,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Popular by 56.6% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 603 shares of the bank’s stock worth $57,000 after acquiring an additional 218 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV grew 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 valued at $3,553,000 after purchasing an additional 35,699 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. grew 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 valued at $128,192,000 after purchasing an additional 39,999 shares during the period. Harbor Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Popular by 30.0% in the fourth quarter. Harbor Advisors LLC now owns 13,000 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,223,000 after acquiring an additional 3,000 shares during the period. Finally, Teacher Retirement System of Texas boosted its holdings in shares of Popular by 23.3% in the fourth quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 24,037 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,261,000 after acquiring an additional 4,550 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 87.27% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on BPOP. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Popular from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $110.00 to $100.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. StockNews.com downgraded Popular from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Popular from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on Popular from $122.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Popular from $110.00 to $123.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $114.43.

Popular Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of NASDAQ BPOP opened at $104.52 on Friday. Popular, Inc. has a twelve month low of $78.23 and a twelve month high of $106.81. The firm has a market cap of $7.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.21, a PEG ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a 50 day moving average of $91.96 and a 200 day moving average of $95.70.

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The bank reported $2.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.26 by $0.30. The company had revenue of $755.46 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $760.45 million. Popular had a net margin of 14.15% and a return on equity of 11.89%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.43 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Popular, Inc. will post 10.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Popular Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 29th will be paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 29th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.68%. Popular’s dividend payout ratio is presently 28.90%.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Adorno Denissa Rodriguez sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $104.43, for a total value of $52,215.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 3,604 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $376,365.72. This represents a 12.18% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 2.23% of the company’s stock.

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.