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Fortis Capital Advisors LLC Takes $1.03 Million Position in Popular, Inc. $BPOP

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Key Points

  • Fortis Capital Advisors LLC took a new position in Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP) in Q4, buying 8,267 shares valued at approximately $1.03 million.
  • Research firms have been upgrading Popular — including UBS's upgrade to Buy and raised targets from Wells Fargo and Hovde — leaving an average analyst price target of $161.18 and a consensus "Moderate Buy".
  • Popular beat quarterly EPS estimates with $3.38 vs. $3.02 expected, recently paid a quarterly dividend of $0.75 (annualized ~2.0%), and institutional investors own about 87.27% of the stock.
  • Five stocks we like better than Popular.

Fortis Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 8,267 shares of the bank's stock, valued at approximately $1,029,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in BPOP. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position 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 valued at $376,314,000 after buying an additional 1,065,452 shares in the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. increased its position in Popular by 2,752.6% during the 3rd quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 312,447 shares of the bank's stock worth $39,684,000 after purchasing an additional 301,494 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in Popular by 18.9% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,779,309 shares of the bank's stock worth $225,990,000 after purchasing an additional 283,000 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its position in Popular by 12,382.7% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 258,517 shares of the bank's stock worth $32,191,000 after purchasing an additional 256,446 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management increased its position in Popular by 34.3% during the 3rd quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 954,968 shares of the bank's stock worth $121,290,000 after purchasing an additional 244,108 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.27% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on BPOP. UBS Group upgraded Popular from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $142.00 to $160.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on Popular from $146.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 28th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Popular from $135.00 to $163.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, March 30th. Hovde Group boosted their price target on Popular from $153.00 to $176.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 28th. Finally, Piper Sandler assumed coverage on Popular in a report on Thursday, January 15th. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $152.00 price target for the company. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Popular currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $161.18.

Read Our Latest Stock Analysis on Popular

Insider Transactions at Popular

In other Popular news, Director Alejandro M. Ballester sold 2,360 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $132.50, for a total value of $312,700.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 57,449 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,611,992.50. This trade represents a 3.95% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Alejandro M. Sanchez sold 1,451 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.85, for a total value of $204,373.35. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 3,415 shares in the company, valued at approximately $481,002.75. The trade was a 29.82% 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 company insiders.

Popular Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:BPOP opened at $146.90 on Monday. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $138.19 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $127.53. Popular, Inc. has a 12-month low of $84.32 and a 12-month high of $149.31. The firm has a market cap of $9.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.92, a PEG ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 0.59.

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 27th. The bank reported $3.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.02 by $0.36. Popular had a return on equity of 13.70% and a net margin of 18.75%.The firm had revenue of $806.59 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $811.55 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.51 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Popular, Inc. will post 10.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Popular Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 18th were paid a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 18th. Popular's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.35%.

Popular Profile

(Free Report)

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.

Further Reading

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding BPOP? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP - Free Report).

Institutional Ownership by Quarter for Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP)

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.

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