Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP) Short Interest Update

Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest during the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 830,800 shares, a growth of 90.5% from the August 15th total of 436,100 shares. Approximately 1.2% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 394,300 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.1 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on BPOP. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $120.00 price objective (up previously from $110.00) on shares of Popular in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Popular from $90.00 to $108.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Piper Sandler assumed coverage on Popular in a research note on Monday, August 26th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $112.00 price objective for the company. Hovde Group boosted their target price on Popular from $113.00 to $123.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on Popular from $103.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $106.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Popular news, EVP Camille Burckhart sold 5,917 shares of Popular stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $97.60, for a total value of $577,499.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 29,922 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,920,387.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 2.09% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. UBS Group AG grew its holdings in Popular by 12.7% during the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 139,694 shares of the bank’s stock worth $11,465,000 after acquiring an additional 15,710 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its holdings in Popular by 3.6% during the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 294,295 shares of the bank’s stock worth $25,924,000 after acquiring an additional 10,308 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. grew its holdings in Popular by 2.2% during the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 282,639 shares of the bank’s stock worth $24,898,000 after acquiring an additional 6,067 shares during the period. Seven Eight Capital LP acquired a new position in Popular during the fourth quarter worth $809,000. Finally, Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Popular by 249.1% during the second quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 32,845 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,904,000 after acquiring an additional 23,436 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.27% of the company’s stock.

Popular Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:BPOP traded up $1.49 during trading on Friday, reaching $97.57. The company had a trading volume of 362,788 shares, compared to its average volume of 396,415. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 0.78. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $97.82 and its 200 day moving average price is $90.32. Popular has a fifty-two week low of $59.27 and a fifty-two week high of $105.01.

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The bank reported $2.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.08 by $0.38. The business had revenue of $1.09 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $751.57 million. Popular had a return on equity of 11.73% and a net margin of 12.20%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.10 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Popular will post 8.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Popular Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be issued a $0.62 dividend. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. Popular’s payout ratio is currently 36.80%.

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.