Bank of Nova Scotia Lowers Stock Holdings in Popular, Inc. $BPOP

Key Points

• Bank of Nova Scotia cut its Popular stake by 94.5% in the first quarter, selling 240,135 shares and retaining 14,103 shares worth approximately $1.9 million. Institutional investors still own 87.27% of Popular’s stock.
• Analysts remain broadly positive, with a consensus “Buy” rating and an average price target of $184.42; Royal Bank of Canada, Piper Sandler, and Barclays recently raised their targets.
• Popular reported quarterly EPS of $4.35, beating estimates of $3.72, while revenue missed expectations. The company also maintains a quarterly dividend of $0.75, equivalent to a 1.7% annual yield.

Bank of Nova Scotia reduced its position in Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP - Free Report) by 94.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 14,103 shares of the bank's stock after selling 240,135 shares during the quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia's holdings in Popular were worth $1,892,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Popular by 30.5% in the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 321 shares of the bank's stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Xponance LLC grew its position in shares of Popular by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Xponance LLC now owns 3,892 shares of the bank's stock valued at $485,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Severin Investments LLC grew its position in shares of Popular by 1.9% during the 1st quarter. Severin Investments LLC now owns 4,799 shares of the bank's stock valued at $644,000 after purchasing an additional 91 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Popular by 1.7% in the first quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 5,693 shares of the bank's stock worth $764,000 after purchasing an additional 95 shares during the period. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers increased its holdings in shares of Popular by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 14,647 shares of the bank's stock worth $1,824,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.27% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on BPOP shares. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on Popular from $163.00 to $181.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Piper Sandler restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $198.00 target price (up from $190.00) on shares of Popular in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Barclays upped their target price on Popular from $185.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Zacks Research cut Popular from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, April 6th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Popular from a "buy (b+)" rating to a "buy (a-)" rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Popular currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $184.42.

Insider Transactions at Popular

In other news, EVP Maria Cristin Gonzalez-Noguera sold 6,200 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $148.51, for a total transaction of $920,762.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 11,255 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,671,480.05. This represents a 35.52% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Alejandro M. Sanchez sold 300 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.36, for a total value of $45,108.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 3,960 shares in the company, valued at approximately $595,425.60. This represents a 7.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 2.13% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Popular Stock Performance

Popular stock opened at $172.22 on Thursday. Popular, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $108.74 and a fifty-two week high of $175.12. The stock has a market cap of $11.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 0.61. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $162.42 and its 200-day moving average price is $147.08.

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The bank reported $4.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.72 by $0.63. The company had revenue of $846.92 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $878.41 million. Popular had a net margin of 21.37% and a return on equity of 15.47%. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.09 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Popular, Inc. will post 15.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Popular Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 29th were issued a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 29th. Popular's dividend payout ratio is presently 20.27%.

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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