AIA Group Ltd Raises Stock Position in Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP)

AIA Group Ltd boosted its position in shares of Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP) by 8.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,799 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,054 shares during the period. AIA Group Ltd’s holdings in Popular were worth $1,132,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of BPOP. First Trust Advisors LP grew its stake in Popular by 474.1% during the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 3,531,550 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $202,746,000 after acquiring an additional 2,916,412 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in Popular by 394.0% in the 2nd quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,108,132 shares of the bank’s stock worth $85,249,000 after buying an additional 883,818 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in Popular by 135.4% in the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,471,368 shares of the bank’s stock worth $97,581,000 after buying an additional 846,247 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Popular by 11.6% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,880,331 shares of the bank’s stock worth $567,856,000 after buying an additional 816,384 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in Popular by 21.9% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 4,382,121 shares of the bank’s stock worth $251,579,000 after buying an additional 786,453 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.27% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Popular news, EVP Luis E. Cestero sold 4,641 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.42, for a total value of $391,793.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 26,772 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,260,092.24. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Popular news, EVP Luis E. Cestero sold 4,641 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.42, for a total value of $391,793.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 26,772 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,260,092.24. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Luis E. Cestero sold 599 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.65, for a total transaction of $51,304.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 26,529 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,272,208.85. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 2.09% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on BPOP. StockNews.com raised shares of Popular from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Popular from $96.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Barclays began coverage on shares of Popular in a research note on Friday, March 8th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $99.00 price target for the company. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Popular from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Popular from $103.00 to $107.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Popular currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $91.63.

Popular Stock Up 1.7 %

NASDAQ:BPOP opened at $83.20 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $84.34 and a 200 day moving average of $78.21. Popular, Inc. has a 52 week low of $52.32 and a 52 week high of $89.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.05 and a beta of 0.82.

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The bank reported $1.94 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.05 by $0.89. Popular had a net margin of 13.86% and a return on equity of 12.63%. The company had revenue of $702.92 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $699.76 million. As a group, analysts anticipate that Popular, Inc. will post 8.52 EPS for the current year.

Popular Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were issued a $0.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 13th. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.98%. Popular’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.93%.

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.