Renaissance Technologies LLC Acquires New Position in Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP)

Renaissance Technologies LLC bought a new position in shares of Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP) during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 5,025 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $444,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BPOP. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in Popular by 52.2% during the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 835,311 shares of the bank’s stock worth $73,867,000 after purchasing an additional 286,450 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Popular by 2.9% in the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 77,291 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $6,835,000 after acquiring an additional 2,159 shares in the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Popular by 35.4% in the second quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 30,634 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,709,000 after acquiring an additional 8,012 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. grew its holdings in Popular by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 233,353 shares of the bank’s stock worth $20,635,000 after acquiring an additional 2,250 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Popular in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $48,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.27% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Popular

In other news, EVP Camille Burckhart sold 5,917 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $97.60, for a total value of $577,499.20. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 29,922 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,920,387.20. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 2.09% of the company’s stock.

Popular Price Performance

BPOP stock opened at $97.42 on Friday. Popular, Inc. has a 12 month low of $59.27 and a 12 month high of $105.01. The company has a market cap of $7.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.68 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $97.89 and a 200 day moving average price of $92.21.

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The bank reported $2.46 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.08 by $0.38. The business had revenue of $1.09 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $751.57 million. Popular had a net margin of 12.20% and a return on equity of 11.73%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.10 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Popular, Inc. will post 8.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Popular Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th were issued a $0.62 dividend. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 13th. Popular’s payout ratio is 36.80%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on BPOP. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of Popular from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $115.00 to $105.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Barclays increased their price objective on Popular from $115.00 to $117.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Hovde Group upped their price target on Popular from $113.00 to $123.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Popular from $90.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $120.00 target price (up from $110.00) on shares of Popular in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $110.38.

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.