Loomis Sayles & Co. L P Decreases Stock Holdings in Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP)

Loomis Sayles & Co. L P lessened its stake in Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP) by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 204,899 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 6,083 shares during the quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P’s holdings in Popular were worth $20,545,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Popular by 249.1% in the 2nd quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 32,845 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,904,000 after purchasing an additional 23,436 shares during the last quarter. Algert Global LLC raised its position in shares of Popular by 10.4% in the second quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 88,379 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $7,815,000 after buying an additional 8,317 shares during the last quarter. TCW Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Popular by 70.7% in the second quarter. TCW Group Inc. now owns 82,321 shares of the bank’s stock worth $7,280,000 after buying an additional 34,107 shares in the last quarter. Atria Investments Inc acquired a new position in Popular during the first quarter worth about $1,104,000. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Popular during the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,283,000. 87.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other Popular news, VP Adorno Denissa Rodriguez sold 1,825 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were 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 represents a 35.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Beatriz Castellvi sold 3,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.16, for a total transaction of $347,060.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 25,115 shares in the company, valued at $2,490,403.40. This represents a 12.23 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 2.13% of the company’s stock.

Popular Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ:BPOP opened at $100.78 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $7.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.69, a PEG ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 0.79. Popular, Inc. has a 12-month low of $71.08 and a 12-month high of $105.01. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $96.62 and a 200 day moving average price of $94.53.

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The bank reported $2.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.33 by ($0.17). The company had revenue of $736.56 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $766.62 million. Popular had a net margin of 12.36% and a return on equity of 11.35%. Popular’s revenue was up 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.90 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Popular, Inc. will post 8.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Popular Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be given a dividend of $0.70 per share. This is a positive change from Popular’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.78%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. Popular’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 33.70%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BPOP has been the topic of a number of research reports. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on shares of Popular from $112.00 to $100.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Popular from $105.00 to $98.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Barclays dropped their target price on Popular from $117.00 to $104.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on Popular from $108.00 to $96.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $104.88.

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.