Bailard Inc. Buys New Stake in Popular, Inc. $BPOP

Bailard Inc. purchased a new stake in Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP) during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 4,403 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $559,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of BPOP. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH lifted its holdings in shares of Popular by 39.0% in the 3rd quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH now owns 86,307 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $10,962,000 after buying an additional 24,197 shares during the period. Arkadios Wealth Advisors raised its position in Popular by 11.0% during the third quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 3,493 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $444,000 after acquiring an additional 346 shares in the last quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC acquired a new position in Popular in the third quarter valued at approximately $645,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in Popular by 63.7% in the 3rd quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 32,398 shares of the bank’s stock worth $4,060,000 after purchasing an additional 12,603 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in Popular by 18.9% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,779,309 shares of the bank’s stock worth $225,990,000 after purchasing an additional 283,000 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.27% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Popular

In other Popular news, Director Richard L. Carrion sold 25,000 shares of Popular stock in a transaction on Monday, November 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.50, for a total transaction of $2,837,500.00. Following the sale, the director owned 193,020 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,907,770. The trade was a 11.47% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Adorno Denissa Rodriguez sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $114.84, for a total transaction of $114,840.00. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 2,604 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $299,043.36. The trade was a 27.75% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 2.09% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Piper Sandler began coverage on shares of Popular in a report on Thursday, January 15th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $152.00 target price for the company. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Popular from $142.00 to $144.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 30th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Popular in a research note on Wednesday. Truist Financial assumed coverage on Popular in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. They set a “buy” rating and a $153.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Popular from $150.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 24th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $137.00.

Popular Stock Down 3.7%

BPOP stock opened at $121.97 on Friday. Popular, Inc. has a 52 week low of $78.23 and a 52 week high of $131.10. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $121.88 and a 200-day simple moving average of $120.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.79, a P/E/G ratio of 0.53 and a beta of 0.63.

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 23rd. The bank reported $3.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.04 by $0.10. Popular had a return on equity of 13.27% and a net margin of 17.63%.The company had revenue of $720.83 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $803.95 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.16 EPS. Popular’s revenue was down 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Popular, Inc. will post 10.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Popular Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 5th were paid a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 5th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.5%. Popular’s payout ratio is currently 26.55%.

About Popular

Popular, Inc, headquartered in San Juan, Puerto Rico, is a financial holding company and a leading provider of banking services in the United States mainland and Puerto Rico. Through its primary subsidiaries—Banco Popular de Puerto Rico and Popular Bank—the company delivers comprehensive commercial and consumer banking solutions. It offers deposit products, lending facilities, cash management services and payment-processing solutions designed for individuals, small businesses and large corporations.

The company’s product suite encompasses checking and savings accounts, certificates of deposit, residential and commercial mortgage loans, business lines of credit and credit cards.