Engineers Gate Manager LP Lowers Stock Holdings in Popular, Inc. $BPOP

Key Points

• Engineers Gate Manager LP cut its Popular holdings by 92.2% in the second quarter, selling 49,669 shares and retaining 4,191 shares worth approximately $688,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.27% of BPOP.
• Analyst sentiment remains positive: Popular has an average “Buy” rating and a consensus price target of $187.08, with several firms recently raising their targets.
• Popular beat quarterly earnings expectations, reporting $4.35 in EPS versus the $3.72 consensus estimate, and increased its quarterly dividend from $0.75 to $0.90 per share.

Engineers Gate Manager LP cut its holdings in Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP - Free Report) by 92.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 4,191 shares of the bank's stock after selling 49,669 shares during the period. Engineers Gate Manager LP's holdings in Popular were worth $688,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. IFP Advisors Inc raised its position in shares of Popular by 5.7% in the 2nd quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 1,458 shares of the bank's stock worth $239,000 after buying an additional 79 shares during the period. Squarepoint Ops LLC purchased a new stake in Popular during the second quarter valued at about $712,000. Baird Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Popular during the second quarter valued at about $872,000. Waverly Advisors LLC increased its stake in Popular by 15.7% during the second quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC now owns 2,844 shares of the bank's stock worth $467,000 after acquiring an additional 385 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nykredit A S acquired a new stake in Popular during the second quarter worth about $555,000. 87.27% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BPOP has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on Popular from $192.00 to $197.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Popular from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, September 7th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Popular from $178.00 to $188.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of Popular from $190.00 to $207.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Piper Sandler reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $198.00 price objective (up from $190.00) on shares of Popular in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and ten have assigned a Buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Popular presently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $187.08.

Insider Transactions at Popular

In other Popular news, Director Maria Ferre sold 3,385 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.42, for a total value of $593,796.70. Following the sale, the director owned 10,156 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,781,565.52. This trade represents a 25.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Adorno Rodriguez sold 600 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.79, for a total value of $101,274.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 2,492 shares of the company's stock, valued at $420,624.68. This trade represents a 19.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 53,561 shares of company stock valued at $9,392,259 over the last three months. 2.13% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Popular Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of NASDAQ BPOP opened at $162.58 on Tuesday. Popular, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $108.74 and a fifty-two week high of $179.24. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $170.73 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $156.21. The firm has a market cap of $10.37 billion, a PE ratio of 10.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.62 and a beta of 0.60.

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The bank reported $4.35 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.72 by $0.63. Popular had a net margin of 21.37% and a return on equity of 15.34%. The business had revenue of $846.92 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $878.41 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.09 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Popular, Inc. will post 15.72 earnings per share for the current year.

Popular Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, September 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.90 per share. This represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 10th. This is an increase from Popular's previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. Popular's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 24.32%.

Popular Profile

Popular, Inc NASDAQ: BPOP is a financial services holding company headquartered in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Founded in 1893, the company operates primarily through Banco Popular de Puerto Rico, one of the largest banking institutions in Puerto Rico.

Banco Popular provides a broad range of financial products and services for individuals, businesses and government entities. Its offerings include deposit accounts, consumer and commercial loans, residential mortgages, credit cards, auto financing, investment services, insurance and trust services.

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