Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP) Position Reduced by Holocene Advisors LP

Holocene Advisors LP cut its position in shares of Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP) by 8.7% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 50,129 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 4,771 shares during the period. Holocene Advisors LP’s holdings in Popular were worth $5,026,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Algert Global LLC lifted its stake in Popular by 10.4% during 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 in the last quarter. TCW Group Inc. lifted its stake in Popular by 70.7% during the second quarter. TCW Group Inc. now owns 82,321 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $7,280,000 after buying an additional 34,107 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Popular during the second quarter valued at about $2,283,000. Artemis Investment Management LLP acquired a new position in shares of Popular in the 2nd quarter valued at about $4,171,000. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Popular by 23.6% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 859,794 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $75,129,000 after purchasing an additional 164,270 shares during the period. 87.27% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Popular Stock Performance

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

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The bank reported $2.16 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.33 by ($0.17). Popular had a net margin of 12.36% and a return on equity of 11.35%. The firm had revenue of $736.56 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $766.62 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.90 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate 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 $0.70 dividend. This is a positive change from Popular’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.81%. Popular’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 38.04%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Beatriz Castellvi sold 3,500 shares of Popular 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 25,115 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,490,403.40. This trade represents a 12.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Adorno Denissa Rodriguez sold 1,825 shares of Popular stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $97.71, for a total transaction of $178,320.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 3,332 shares in the company, valued at approximately $325,569.72. This 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.

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.