Alyeska Investment Group L.P. Cuts Holdings in Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP)

Alyeska Investment Group L.P. lowered its position in shares of Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP - Free Report) by 5.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 603,775 shares of the bank's stock after selling 37,184 shares during the period. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. owned about 0.85% of Popular worth $56,791,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Picton Mahoney Asset Management grew its position in shares of Popular by 56.7% in the 4th quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 326 shares of the bank's stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 118 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Popular by 56.6% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 603 shares of the bank's stock valued at $57,000 after acquiring an additional 218 shares during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new stake in Popular during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $81,000. R Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in Popular during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $166,000. Finally, Yousif Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Popular during the 4th quarter worth approximately $202,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.27% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BPOP has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Popular from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $110.00 to $100.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on Popular from $122.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Barclays restated an "overweight" rating and set a $125.00 target price (up previously from $115.00) on shares of Popular in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Hovde Group decreased their target price on Popular from $118.00 to $114.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Popular from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $111.14.

Popular Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:BPOP traded down $0.08 during trading on Friday, reaching $100.41. 168,966 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 602,536. Popular, Inc. has a 1-year low of $78.23 and a 1-year high of $106.81. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $90.56 and a two-hundred day moving average of $95.15. The firm has a market cap of $6.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 0.60.

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The bank reported $2.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.26 by $0.30. The company had revenue of $755.46 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $760.45 million. Popular had a net margin of 14.15% and a return on equity of 11.89%. The firm's revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.43 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Popular, Inc. will post 10.06 EPS for the current year.

Popular Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, May 29th will be given a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.79%. Popular's payout ratio is 28.90%.

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.