Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP) EVP Gilberto Monzon Sells 9,600 Shares of Stock

Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP) EVP Gilberto Monzon sold 9,600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $102.57, for a total transaction of $984,672.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 39,170 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,017,666.90. The trade was a 19.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link.

Popular Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:BPOP opened at $103.37 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $97.46 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $97.54. Popular, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $80.60 and a fifty-two week high of $106.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 0.82.

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The bank reported $2.51 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.04 by $0.47. Popular had a net margin of 14.15% and a return on equity of 11.89%. Research analysts expect that Popular, Inc. will post 10.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Popular Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th were paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.71%. This is a boost from Popular’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 6th. Popular’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.71%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in Popular during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Financial Management Professionals Inc. acquired a new position in Popular in the third quarter worth $29,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new stake in shares of Popular during the third quarter worth $35,000. Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new stake in shares of Popular in the third quarter valued at $47,000. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Popular by 56.6% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 603 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $57,000 after buying an additional 218 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.27% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on BPOP. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Popular from $116.00 to $129.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Popular from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Popular from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. StockNews.com upgraded Popular from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, UBS Group began coverage on Popular in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $104.00 target price for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Popular has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $112.25.

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.