J. L. Bainbridge & Co. Inc. Boosts Stock Position in Popular, Inc. $BPOP

J. L. Bainbridge & Co. Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP) by 284.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,616 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,853 shares during the quarter. J. L. Bainbridge & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Popular were worth $1,424,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA boosted its holdings in Popular by 7.8% in the 1st quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 10,521 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,412,000 after buying an additional 762 shares during the period. Venturi Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Popular by 9.3% during the 1st quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,831 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $380,000 after buying an additional 240 shares in the last quarter. Cannon Global Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Popular by 119.2% during the 1st quarter. Cannon Global Investment Management LLC now owns 5,700 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $765,000 after buying an additional 3,100 shares in the last quarter. Foster & Motley Inc. grew its holdings in Popular by 3.2% during the 1st quarter. Foster & Motley Inc. now owns 5,107 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $685,000 after buying an additional 160 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ritholtz Wealth Management raised its position in shares of Popular by 22.9% during the first quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 56,390 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $7,566,000 after buying an additional 10,512 shares during the last quarter. 87.27% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Popular Price Performance

Shares of BPOP opened at $165.79 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 0.62. Popular, Inc. has a 1 year low of $108.74 and a 1 year high of $169.14. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $152.15 and its 200-day simple moving average is $139.61.

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The bank reported $3.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.30 by $0.48. Popular had a net margin of 20.10% and a return on equity of 14.53%. The firm had revenue of $816.08 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $866.54 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.56 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Popular, Inc. will post 15.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Popular Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 29th will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 29th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. Popular’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 22.16%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Alejandro M. Ballester sold 23,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.00, for a total value of $3,450,000.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 34,588 shares in the company, valued at $5,188,200. The trade was a 39.94% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Alejandro M. Sanchez sold 300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.36, for a total transaction of $45,108.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 3,960 shares in the company, valued at approximately $595,425.60. This trade represents a 7.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 29,500 shares of company stock valued at $4,415,870 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 2.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently commented on BPOP shares. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Popular from $141.00 to $163.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Popular from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of Popular from $155.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Popular from $175.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 7th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on Popular from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $171.18.

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.