Raymond James Financial Inc. Takes $3.03 Million Position in Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP)

Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm acquired 32,253 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $3,034,000.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of BPOP. State Street Corp increased its position in Popular by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,056,377 shares of the bank’s stock worth $207,475,000 after purchasing an additional 10,599 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Popular by 7.3% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,054,849 shares of the bank’s stock worth $105,769,000 after acquiring an additional 71,782 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in Popular by 15.4% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 697,389 shares of the bank’s stock worth $65,596,000 after purchasing an additional 93,262 shares in the last quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC grew its holdings in Popular by 3.7% in the third quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 629,537 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $63,124,000 after purchasing an additional 22,355 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Popular by 18.3% in the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 548,057 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $54,954,000 after buying an additional 84,839 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.27% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Popular from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of Popular from $116.00 to $129.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Popular from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Popular from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, UBS Group began coverage on shares of Popular in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $104.00 price objective for the company. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $113.00.

Insider Activity

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

Popular Trading Down 1.8 %

NASDAQ BPOP opened at $91.52 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $97.98 and its 200-day simple moving average is $96.95. The stock has a market cap of $6.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.69, a PEG ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 0.77. Popular, Inc. has a 52 week low of $80.60 and a 52 week high of $106.81.

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

Popular Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be given a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 18th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.06%. Popular’s payout ratio is 32.71%.

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.