Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP) Position Raised by Cerity Partners LLC

Cerity Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP) by 83.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,546 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,354 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in Popular were worth $957,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BPOP. Algert Global LLC raised its stake in shares of Popular by 10.4% during the 2nd quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 88,379 shares of the bank’s stock worth $7,815,000 after purchasing an additional 8,317 shares in the last quarter. TCW Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Popular by 70.7% during the 2nd quarter. TCW Group Inc. now owns 82,321 shares of the bank’s stock worth $7,280,000 after purchasing an additional 34,107 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Popular in the 2nd quarter valued at $2,283,000. Artemis Investment Management LLP acquired a new position in shares of Popular during the second quarter worth approximately $4,171,000. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Popular by 23.6% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 859,794 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $75,129,000 after acquiring an additional 164,270 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.27% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on BPOP. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Popular from $117.00 to $104.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Popular from $90.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on Popular from $108.00 to $96.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Popular from $103.00 to $116.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Piper Sandler decreased their price target on shares of Popular from $112.00 to $100.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $105.25.

Insider Buying and Selling at Popular

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

Popular Price Performance

Shares of Popular stock opened at $99.82 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $7.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.56, a PEG ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 0.81. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $96.51 and its 200 day moving average is $94.82. Popular, Inc. has a one year low of $74.97 and a one year high of $105.01.

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The bank reported $2.16 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.33 by ($0.17). Popular had a net margin of 12.36% and a return on equity of 11.35%. The business had revenue of $736.56 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $766.62 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.90 EPS. Popular’s revenue was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Popular, Inc. will post 8.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Popular Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be given a $0.70 dividend. This is an increase from Popular’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. Popular’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.