5,135 Shares in Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP) Bought by Bayview Asset Management LLC

Bayview Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 5,135 shares of the bank's stock, valued at approximately $483,000. Popular makes up about 0.4% of Bayview Asset Management LLC's holdings, making the stock its 14th biggest position.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of BPOP. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Popular by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,286,832 shares of the bank's stock valued at $873,519,000 after purchasing an additional 56,222 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of Popular by 5.0% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 4,192,769 shares of the bank's stock worth $394,373,000 after acquiring an additional 201,067 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of Popular by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,908,406 shares of the bank's stock worth $179,505,000 after acquiring an additional 25,222 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in Popular by 57.1% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,418,729 shares of the bank's stock valued at $133,446,000 after acquiring an additional 515,798 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in Popular by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,362,875 shares of the bank's stock valued at $128,192,000 after acquiring an additional 39,999 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.27% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Popular Stock Performance

Shares of BPOP stock traded up $0.03 on Friday, hitting $100.52. The company had a trading volume of 205,481 shares, compared to its average volume of 492,764. Popular, Inc. has a twelve month low of $78.23 and a twelve month high of $106.81. The firm has a market cap of $6.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.74, a P/E/G ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 0.60. The stock's 50-day moving average is $90.56 and its two-hundred day moving average is $95.15.

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The bank reported $2.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.26 by $0.30. Popular had a net margin of 14.15% and a return on equity of 11.89%. The firm had revenue of $755.46 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $760.45 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.43 EPS. The company's revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. 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 will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 29th will be given a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.79%. Popular's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.90%.

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.