Rhumbline Advisers Grows Holdings in Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP)

Rhumbline Advisers raised its position in shares of Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP) by 0.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 92,877 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 281 shares during the quarter. Rhumbline Advisers owned 0.13% of Popular worth $8,736,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp lifted its stake 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 valued at $207,475,000 after buying an additional 10,599 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in Popular by 7.3% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,054,849 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $105,769,000 after acquiring an additional 71,782 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in shares of Popular by 8.1% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 902,931 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $90,537,000 after acquiring an additional 67,620 shares in the last quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Popular by 3.7% in the third quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 629,537 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $63,124,000 after acquiring an additional 22,355 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Popular by 18.3% in the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 548,057 shares of the bank’s stock worth $54,954,000 after acquiring an additional 84,839 shares during the period. 87.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on BPOP. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Popular from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Popular from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Popular from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of Popular in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $104.00 target price for the company. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Popular from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Popular has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $112.25.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Eduardo J. Negron sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $104.02, for a total transaction of $1,040,200.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 32,866 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,418,721.32. This represents a 23.33 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Gilberto Monzon sold 9,600 shares of Popular stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $102.57, for a total transaction of $984,672.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 39,170 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,017,666.90. The trade was a 19.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 2.13% of the company’s stock.

Popular Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ:BPOP opened at $100.28 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $98.70 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $97.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.71, a PEG ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 0.82. Popular, Inc. has a 52 week low of $80.60 and a 52 week high of $106.81.

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

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.