Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP) Shares Bought by Point72 Asset Management L.P.

Point72 Asset Management L.P. boosted its stake in Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP - Free Report) by 140.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 201,331 shares of the bank's stock after acquiring an additional 117,705 shares during the quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. owned 0.28% of Popular worth $18,937,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Popular during the fourth quarter valued at $79,842,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in Popular by 57.1% in the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,418,729 shares of the bank's stock valued at $133,446,000 after buying an additional 515,798 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Popular by 53.8% in the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,312,952 shares of the bank's stock worth $123,496,000 after buying an additional 459,231 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in Popular by 5.0% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 4,192,769 shares of the bank's stock worth $394,373,000 after buying an additional 201,067 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its stake in Popular by 32.0% during the 4th quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 723,384 shares of the bank's stock worth $68,041,000 after buying an additional 175,327 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.27% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Wall Street Zen downgraded Popular from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Popular from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $110.00 to $100.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Popular from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of Popular from $122.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Hovde Group decreased their price target on shares of Popular from $118.00 to $114.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $114.43.

Popular Price Performance

Popular stock traded down $0.17 during trading on Friday, reaching $101.99. 80,030 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 594,737. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $93.16 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $96.06. The company has a market capitalization of $6.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.91, a PEG ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 0.60. Popular, Inc. has a 52-week low of $78.23 and a 52-week high of $106.81.

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The bank reported $2.56 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.26 by $0.30. The business had revenue of $755.46 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $760.45 million. Popular had a return on equity of 11.89% and a net margin of 14.15%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.43 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Popular, Inc. will post 10.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Popular Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 29th will be paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 29th. Popular's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.90%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Popular news, VP Adorno Denissa Rodriguez sold 500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $104.43, for a total transaction of $52,215.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 3,604 shares of the company's stock, valued at $376,365.72. This trade represents a 12.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 2.09% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Popular

Popular, Inc, through its subsidiaries, provides various retail, mortgage, and commercial banking products and services in Puerto Rico, the United States, and the British Virgin Islands. The company provides savings, NOW, money market, and other interest-bearing demand accounts; non-interest bearing demand deposits; and certificates of deposit.