Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB Acquires Shares of 806 Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP)

Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new position in shares of Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP) in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm acquired 806 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $81,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of BPOP. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in Popular by 52.2% in the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 835,311 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $73,867,000 after buying an additional 286,450 shares during the period. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Popular by 235.5% during the third quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 332,093 shares of the bank’s stock worth $33,299,000 after acquiring an additional 233,119 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Popular by 23.6% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 859,794 shares of the bank’s stock worth $75,129,000 after purchasing an additional 164,270 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in Popular by 10.3% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,218,828 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $107,781,000 after purchasing an additional 113,838 shares during the period. Finally, Soros Fund Management LLC purchased a new stake in Popular in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $9,115,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.27% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on BPOP shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Popular from $90.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on Popular from $112.00 to $100.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on shares of Popular from $108.00 to $96.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of Popular from $103.00 to $116.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, UBS Group started coverage on shares of Popular in a report on Tuesday. They set a “neutral” rating and a $104.00 price objective on the stock. 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 stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $108.25.

Popular Stock Up 1.2 %

BPOP opened at $91.66 on Friday. Popular, Inc. has a 52-week low of $79.01 and a 52-week high of $105.01. The company has a 50 day moving average of $96.10 and a two-hundred day moving average of $95.32. The company has a market cap of $6.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.45, a P/E/G ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 0.81.

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 company had revenue of $736.56 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $766.62 million. Popular had a return on equity of 11.35% and a net margin of 12.36%. Popular’s quarterly revenue was up 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.90 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Popular, Inc. will post 8.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Popular Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be paid a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. This is an increase from Popular’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.05%. Popular’s dividend payout ratio is 38.04%.

Insider Activity at Popular

In other Popular news, EVP Beatriz Castellvi sold 3,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $2,490,403.40. This represents a 12.23 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Adorno Denissa Rodriguez sold 1,825 shares of Popular stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $97.71, for a total value of $178,320.75. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 3,332 shares in the company, valued at approximately $325,569.72. The trade was a 35.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company 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.