Versor Investments LP Cuts Stock Position in Popular, Inc. $BPOP

Versor Investments LP trimmed its holdings in shares of Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP) by 51.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 8,154 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 8,500 shares during the quarter. Versor Investments LP’s holdings in Popular were worth $1,036,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in BPOP. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Popular in the 2nd quarter worth $93,578,000. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Popular by 32.4% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,897,419 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $209,115,000 after purchasing an additional 464,820 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in shares of Popular by 18.9% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,779,309 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $225,990,000 after purchasing an additional 283,000 shares during the period. Panagora Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Popular by 9,769.4% during the second quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 268,448 shares of the bank’s stock worth $29,586,000 after purchasing an additional 265,728 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC increased its stake in shares of Popular by 363.4% during the second quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 228,028 shares of the bank’s stock worth $25,131,000 after purchasing an additional 178,820 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.27% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Popular news, Director Richard L. Carrion sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.50, for a total transaction of $2,837,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 193,020 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,907,770. This trade represents a 11.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Alejandro M. Ballester sold 2,360 shares of Popular stock in a transaction on Friday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $132.50, for a total value of $312,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 57,449 shares in the company, valued at $7,611,992.50. This represents a 3.95% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders sold 28,360 shares of company stock worth $3,265,040. Company insiders own 2.23% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BPOP has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Zacks Research upgraded Popular from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $142.00 target price on shares of Popular in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price target on Popular from $137.00 to $141.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Popular from $146.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Popular from $150.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $155.73.

Popular Trading Up 0.9%

Shares of BPOP stock opened at $147.31 on Tuesday. Popular, Inc. has a twelve month low of $78.23 and a twelve month high of $148.25. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $127.02 and its 200-day moving average price is $121.91. The stock has a market cap of $9.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.96, a PEG ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 0.63.

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, January 27th. The bank reported $3.38 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.02 by $0.36. The company had revenue of $815.98 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $811.55 million. Popular had a net margin of 18.75% and a return on equity of 13.87%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.51 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Popular, Inc. will post 10.06 EPS for the current year.

Popular Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, December 5th were issued a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 5th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. Popular’s dividend payout ratio is currently 24.35%.

About Popular

Popular, Inc, headquartered in San Juan, Puerto Rico, is a financial holding company and a leading provider of banking services in the United States mainland and Puerto Rico. Through its primary subsidiaries—Banco Popular de Puerto Rico and Popular Bank—the company delivers comprehensive commercial and consumer banking solutions. It offers deposit products, lending facilities, cash management services and payment-processing solutions designed for individuals, small businesses and large corporations.

The company’s product suite encompasses checking and savings accounts, certificates of deposit, residential and commercial mortgage loans, business lines of credit and credit cards.