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

Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP) saw a large growth in short interest during the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,160,000 shares, a growth of 7.4% from the December 15th total of 1,080,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 529,600 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.2 days. Currently, 1.7% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 25,115 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,490,403.40. The trade was a 12.23 % decrease in their position. 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 the company’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 transaction, the vice president now owns 3,332 shares in the company, valued at approximately $325,569.72. The trade was a 35.39 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.13% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Popular

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in BPOP. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Popular by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,056,377 shares of the bank’s stock worth $207,475,000 after acquiring an additional 10,599 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Popular by 7.3% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,054,849 shares of the bank’s stock worth $105,769,000 after purchasing an additional 71,782 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its holdings in shares of Popular by 8.1% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 902,931 shares of the bank’s stock worth $90,537,000 after purchasing an additional 67,620 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted 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 worth $75,129,000 after purchasing an additional 164,270 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Verition Fund Management LLC increased its position in shares of Popular by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 629,537 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $63,124,000 after purchasing an additional 22,355 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.27% of the company’s stock.

Popular Stock Performance

Shares of BPOP stock opened at $99.64 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $7.11 billion, a PE ratio of 13.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.60 and a beta of 0.81. Popular has a 52-week low of $79.50 and a 52-week high of $105.01. The business’s fifty day moving average is $96.40 and its 200 day moving average is $96.83.

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) last released its quarterly 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). Popular had a net margin of 12.36% and a return on equity of 11.35%. The business had revenue of $736.56 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $766.62 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.90 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Popular will post 8.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Popular Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th were paid a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 6th. This is a boost from Popular’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. Popular’s payout ratio is currently 38.04%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BPOP has been the topic of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Popular from $90.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on shares of Popular from $112.00 to $100.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. UBS Group started coverage on shares of Popular in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $104.00 price target on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of Popular from $103.00 to $116.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on Popular from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Popular currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $108.25.

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.