Swiss National Bank Decreases Stake in Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP)

Swiss National Bank lessened its position in shares of Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP) by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 141,200 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 1,200 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank owned approximately 0.20% of Popular worth $14,158,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Financial Management Professionals Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Popular during the 3rd quarter worth $29,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in shares of Popular during the 3rd quarter worth $35,000. Mather Group LLC. acquired a new position in shares of Popular during the 2nd quarter worth $44,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Popular during the 2nd quarter worth $48,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Popular by 16.8% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,259 shares of the bank’s stock worth $111,000 after buying an additional 181 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.27% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BPOP has been the subject of several research reports. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on Popular from $108.00 to $96.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Barclays cut their target price on shares of Popular from $117.00 to $104.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Piper Sandler cut their target price on shares of Popular from $112.00 to $100.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Popular from $105.00 to $98.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $104.88.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Beatriz Castellvi sold 3,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.16, for a total transaction of $347,060.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 25,115 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,490,403.40. This represents a 12.23 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Adorno Denissa Rodriguez sold 1,825 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $97.71, for a total transaction of $178,320.75. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 3,332 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $325,569.72. This trade represents a 35.39 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 2.09% of the company’s stock.

Popular Price Performance

NASDAQ BPOP opened at $98.96 on Friday. Popular, Inc. has a 12 month low of $71.08 and a 12 month high of $105.01. The company has a 50-day moving average of $96.49 and a 200-day moving average of $94.24. The company has a market cap of $7.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.45, a P/E/G ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 0.79.

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The bank reported $2.16 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.33 by ($0.17). Popular had a net margin of 12.36% and a return on equity of 11.35%. The company had revenue of $736.56 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $766.62 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.90 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Popular, Inc. will post 8.46 EPS for the current year.

Popular Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.83%. This is an increase from Popular’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. Popular’s dividend payout ratio is currently 38.04%.

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.