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

Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,430,000 shares, a growth of 38.8% from the February 28th total of 1,030,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 562,500 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.5 days. Currently, 2.1% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Popular news, EVP Eduardo J. Negron sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $104.02, for a total value of $1,040,200.00. Following the completion of 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Gilberto Monzon sold 9,600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $102.57, for a total value of $984,672.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 39,170 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,017,666.90. This represents a 19.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.09% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Popular

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Popular by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,286,832 shares of the bank’s stock worth $873,519,000 after acquiring an additional 56,222 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in shares of Popular by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 4,192,769 shares of the bank’s stock worth $394,373,000 after purchasing an additional 201,067 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Popular by 0.5% in the third 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 during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in Popular by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,908,406 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $179,505,000 after buying an additional 25,222 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in Popular by 57.1% during the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,418,729 shares of the bank’s stock worth $133,446,000 after buying an additional 515,798 shares during the last quarter. 87.27% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on BPOP. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Popular from $116.00 to $129.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Popular from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Popular from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Popular from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, UBS Group assumed coverage on shares of Popular in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $104.00 price objective on the stock. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Popular presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $113.00.

Popular Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of BPOP opened at $92.37 on Tuesday. Popular has a fifty-two week low of $80.60 and a fifty-two week high of $106.81. The company has a market cap of $6.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.79, a PEG ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 0.77. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $97.83 and its 200 day moving average price is $96.92.

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 28th. The bank reported $2.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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%. Research analysts forecast that Popular will post 10.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Popular Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be paid a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.03%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 18th. Popular’s payout ratio is presently 32.71%.

Popular Company 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.