Ceeto Capital Group LLC Trims Position in Popular, Inc. $BPOP

Key Points

• Ceeto Capital Group cut its stake in Popular, Inc. by 51.6% in the fourth quarter, leaving it with 110,200 shares worth about $13.8 million.
• Popular’s stock has drawn mostly positive analyst sentiment, with several firms raising price targets; the consensus rating is Buy with an average target of $168.73.
• The bank reported better-than-expected earnings of $3.78 per share for the quarter and also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.75 per share, yielding about 2.0% annually.

Ceeto Capital Group LLC cut its holdings in Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP - Free Report) by 51.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 110,200 shares of the bank's stock after selling 117,687 shares during the quarter. Popular makes up approximately 4.0% of Ceeto Capital Group LLC's holdings, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. Ceeto Capital Group LLC owned about 0.17% of Popular worth $13,805,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Popular by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,489,936 shares of the bank's stock worth $1,057,167,000 after purchasing an additional 37,424 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Popular by 56.2% in the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,962,871 shares of the bank's stock worth $376,314,000 after purchasing an additional 1,065,452 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Popular by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,405,575 shares of the bank's stock worth $175,057,000 after purchasing an additional 64,778 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management raised its holdings in Popular by 9.3% in the 4th quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 1,043,733 shares of the bank's stock worth $129,966,000 after purchasing an additional 88,765 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in Popular in the 4th quarter worth $104,955,000. 87.27% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on BPOP. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Popular from $141.00 to $163.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Citigroup upped their target price on Popular from $170.00 to $178.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Popular from $135.00 to $163.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, March 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on Popular from $155.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded Popular from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, April 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Popular has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $168.73.

Popular Trading Down 2.0%

Shares of BPOP opened at $148.13 on Thursday. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $145.03 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $134.37. Popular, Inc. has a 12 month low of $102.56 and a 12 month high of $152.97. The company has a market cap of $9.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.94, a P/E/G ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 0.62.

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The bank reported $3.78 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.30 by $0.48. Popular had a return on equity of 14.53% and a net margin of 20.10%.The business had revenue of $816.08 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $866.54 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.56 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Popular, Inc. will post 15.14 EPS for the current year.

Popular Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 29th will be paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 29th. Popular's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 22.16%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Popular

In other Popular 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 sale, the director directly owned 34,588 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,188,200. This trade represents a 39.94% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Maria Cristin Gonzalez-Noguera sold 6,200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.51, for a total value of $920,762.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 11,255 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,671,480.05. This represents a 35.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders have sold 29,500 shares of company stock worth $4,415,870. Insiders own 2.13% of the company's stock.

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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