Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. Cuts Stock Holdings in Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP)

Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. reduced its position in shares of Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP) by 63.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 115,177 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 199,141 shares during the period. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. owned 0.16% of Popular worth $10,834,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in BPOP. Assetmark Inc. grew its position in shares of Popular by 4.0% in the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 3,749 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $376,000 after purchasing an additional 143 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV grew its position in shares of Popular by 19.0% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,076 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $208,000 after purchasing an additional 331 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Popular in the third quarter valued at approximately $213,000. Meridian Investment Counsel Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Popular in the third quarter valued at approximately $226,000. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its position in shares of Popular by 284.9% in the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 72,403 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $7,260,000 after purchasing an additional 53,590 shares in the last quarter. 87.27% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on BPOP shares. UBS Group started coverage on Popular in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $104.00 price target for the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Popular from $116.00 to $129.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Barclays upped their price objective on Popular from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. StockNews.com upgraded Popular from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Popular from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $112.25.

Popular Stock Down 0.3 %

NASDAQ:BPOP opened at $87.14 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $99.03 and its two-hundred day moving average is $97.67. Popular, Inc. has a 52 week low of $80.60 and a 52 week high of $106.81. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 0.77.

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The bank reported $2.51 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.04 by $0.47. Popular had a return on equity of 11.89% and a net margin of 14.15%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Popular, Inc. will post 10.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Popular Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 18th. Popular’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 32.71%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Eduardo J. Negron sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $104.02, for a total value of $1,040,200.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 32,866 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,418,721.32. This trade represents a 23.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Gilberto Monzon sold 9,600 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $102.57, for a total value of $984,672.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 39,170 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,017,666.90. The trade was a 19.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 2.09% of the company’s stock.

About Popular

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.