Arbejdsmarkedets Tillaegspension Cuts Position in Popular, Inc. $BPOP

Key Points

• Arbejdsmarkedets Tillaegspension trimmed its stake in Popular, Inc. by 4.6% in the first quarter, selling 9,122 shares and ending with 190,372 shares valued at about $25.5 million.
• Wall Street sentiment remains constructive on BPOP, with multiple analysts raising price targets; the stock now has a consensus Buy rating and an average target price of $173.18.
• Popular reported strong quarterly earnings of $3.78 per share, beating estimates, and also paid a $0.75 quarterly dividend, equal to a 1.8% annualized yield.

Arbejdsmarkedets Tillaegspension decreased its position in Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP - Free Report) by 4.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 190,372 shares of the bank's stock after selling 9,122 shares during the quarter. Arbejdsmarkedets Tillaegspension owned 0.29% of Popular worth $25,542,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC increased its holdings in Popular by 140.1% in the third quarter. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC now owns 45,170 shares of the bank's stock valued at $5,737,000 after buying an additional 26,354 shares during the last quarter. Ceeto Capital Group LLC purchased a new stake in Popular during the 3rd quarter worth about $29,115,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its position in shares of Popular by 112.1% during the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 44,616 shares of the bank's stock worth $5,620,000 after acquiring an additional 23,584 shares in the last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. boosted its position in shares of Popular by 10.1% during the 4th quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 187,671 shares of the bank's stock worth $23,369,000 after acquiring an additional 17,148 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC increased its holdings in shares of Popular by 12,382.7% in the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 258,517 shares of the bank's stock valued at $32,191,000 after acquiring an additional 256,446 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.27% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BPOP has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on 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 target on shares of Popular from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Zacks Research cut shares of Popular from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, April 6th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Popular from a "buy (b+)" rating to a "buy (a-)" rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Popular from $165.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, July 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Popular has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $173.18.

Popular Stock Performance

NASDAQ BPOP opened at $170.56 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $11.01 billion, a PE ratio of 12.60, a P/E/G ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 0.61. Popular, Inc. has a one year low of $108.74 and a one year high of $171.73. The firm's fifty day moving average is $156.02 and its two-hundred day moving average is $142.96.

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The bank reported $3.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.30 by $0.48. The business had revenue of $816.08 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $866.54 million. Popular had a net margin of 20.10% and a return on equity of 14.53%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.56 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Popular, Inc. will post 15 earnings per share for the current year.

Popular Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 29th were paid a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 29th. Popular's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 22.16%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Popular

In related news, Director Alejandro M. Ballester sold 23,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.00, for a total transaction of $3,450,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 34,588 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,188,200. This trade represents a 39.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Alejandro M. Sanchez sold 300 shares of Popular stock in a transaction on Friday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.36, for a total transaction of $45,108.00. Following the completion of the transaction, 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. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 29,500 shares of company stock worth $4,415,870. 2.13% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Popular Company Profile

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.

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