Xponance Inc. Boosts Stake in Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP)

Xponance Inc. increased its stake in shares of Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP) by 22.6% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 3,130 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 576 shares during the period. Xponance Inc.’s holdings in Popular were worth $277,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Popular during the 1st quarter worth approximately $42,000. Mather Group LLC. purchased a new position in shares of Popular during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $44,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Popular during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $48,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position 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 purchasing an additional 181 shares during the period. Finally, Clear Street Markets LLC purchased a new position in shares of Popular during the 4th quarter worth approximately $139,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.27% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Camille Burckhart sold 5,917 shares of Popular stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $97.60, for a total transaction of $577,499.20. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 29,922 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,920,387.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 2.09% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Popular Trading Down 4.9 %

Popular stock opened at $95.40 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $6.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.68 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $98.82 and a 200-day simple moving average of $91.65. Popular, Inc. has a 12-month low of $59.27 and a 12-month high of $105.01.

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The bank reported $2.46 earnings per share (EPS) 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 analysts’ expectations of $751.57 million. Popular had a net margin of 12.20% and a return on equity of 11.73%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.10 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Popular, Inc. will post 8.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Popular Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th were paid a dividend of $0.62 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 13th. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.60%. Popular’s dividend payout ratio is currently 36.80%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of Popular from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $115.00 to $105.00 in a research report on Tuesday. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Popular from $115.00 to $117.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Piper Sandler assumed coverage on shares of Popular in a research report on Monday, August 26th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $112.00 price target for the company. Hovde Group raised their price target on shares of Popular from $113.00 to $123.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $120.00 price target (up previously from $110.00) on shares of Popular in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $105.11.

Popular Company 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.