Popular, Inc. $BPOP Shares Purchased by Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC

Key Points

• Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its stake in Popular, Inc. by 287.7% in the first quarter, ending with 172,993 shares valued at about $23.6 million.
• Popular shares have been strong, recently trading near $172.12, close to their 52-week high of $174.69, with the stock up from a 52-week low of $108.74.
• The bank posted solid quarterly results, with $3.78 EPS topping estimates, and it paid a $0.75 quarterly dividend that works out to a 1.7% yield.

Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its position in shares of Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP - Free Report) by 287.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 172,993 shares of the bank's stock after purchasing an additional 128,377 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC owned 0.27% of Popular worth $23,603,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Popular by 56.2% in the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,962,871 shares of the bank's stock valued at $376,314,000 after acquiring an additional 1,065,452 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Popular in the fourth quarter valued at $104,955,000. Panagora Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Popular by 85.2% in the fourth quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 680,282 shares of the bank's stock valued at $84,709,000 after purchasing an additional 312,984 shares during the period. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. increased its stake in Popular by 2,752.6% in the third quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 312,447 shares of the bank's stock valued at $39,684,000 after purchasing an additional 301,494 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC increased its stake in Popular by 12,382.7% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 258,517 shares of the bank's stock valued at $32,191,000 after purchasing an additional 256,446 shares during the last quarter. 87.27% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Popular Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:BPOP opened at $172.12 on Tuesday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $158.68 and a two-hundred day moving average of $144.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.11 billion, a PE ratio of 12.71, a P/E/G ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 0.61. Popular, Inc. has a 12 month low of $108.74 and a 12 month high of $174.69.

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 23rd. The bank reported $3.78 earnings per share 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 analyst estimates of $866.54 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.56 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Popular, Inc. will post 15.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Popular Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 29th were given a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 29th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.7%. Popular's dividend payout ratio is presently 22.16%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Alejandro M. Ballester sold 23,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.00, for a total transaction of $3,450,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 34,588 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,188,200. This represents a 39.94% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Alejandro M. Sanchez sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.36, for a total value of $45,108.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 3,960 shares of the company's stock, 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. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 29,500 shares of company stock valued at $4,415,870. Company insiders own 2.13% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on BPOP. Zacks Research lowered Popular from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, April 6th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price target on Popular from $141.00 to $163.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Popular from $173.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Popular from $165.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, July 6th. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Popular from $178.00 to $188.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 25th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $177.83.

About Popular

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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