Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP) Shares Bought by Verition Fund Management LLC

Verition Fund Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP) by 3.7% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 629,537 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 22,355 shares during the quarter. Popular comprises about 0.3% of Verition Fund Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest holding. Verition Fund Management LLC’s holdings in Popular were worth $63,124,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Captrust Financial Advisors raised its holdings in Popular by 25.2% in the 3rd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 6,839 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $686,000 after buying an additional 1,378 shares during the period. Martingale Asset Management L P increased its holdings in Popular by 72.4% in the 3rd quarter. Martingale Asset Management L P now owns 104,473 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $10,476,000 after purchasing an additional 43,863 shares during the last quarter. Infrastructure Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Popular in the third quarter valued at approximately $235,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its stake in Popular by 303.2% during the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 23,696 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,376,000 after purchasing an additional 17,819 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new position in shares of Popular during the third quarter worth $47,000. 87.27% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Popular

In related news, EVP Beatriz Castellvi sold 3,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.16, for a total transaction of $347,060.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 25,115 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,490,403.40. This represents a 12.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, VP Adorno Denissa Rodriguez sold 1,825 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $97.71, for a total value of $178,320.75. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 3,332 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $325,569.72. This represents a 35.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.09% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Popular Trading Down 1.1 %

Popular stock opened at $99.72 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $7.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $96.57 and a 200-day simple moving average of $94.60. Popular, Inc. has a 12-month low of $71.23 and a 12-month high of $105.01.

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) last issued its 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). The business had revenue of $736.56 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $766.62 million. Popular had a return on equity of 11.35% and a net margin of 12.36%. Popular’s revenue was up 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.90 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast 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. Shareholders 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.81%. Popular’s payout ratio is 33.70%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

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.