Popular, Inc. $BPOP Shares Sold by First Trust Advisors LP

First Trust Advisors LP reduced its holdings in Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP - Free Report) by 32.2% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 211,183 shares of the bank's stock after selling 100,103 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP owned about 0.33% of Popular worth $28,334,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Popular by 56.2% during the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,962,871 shares of the bank's stock valued at $376,314,000 after purchasing an additional 1,065,452 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Popular during the 4th quarter worth about $104,955,000. Panagora Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Popular by 85.2% during the 4th quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 680,282 shares of the bank's stock worth $84,709,000 after purchasing an additional 312,984 shares during the period. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. raised its stake in shares of Popular by 2,752.6% during the 3rd quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 312,447 shares of the bank's stock valued at $39,684,000 after buying an additional 301,494 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arbejdsmarkedets Tillaegspension purchased a new position in shares of Popular during the 4th quarter valued at about $24,841,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.27% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Alejandro M. Sanchez sold 300 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.36, for a total transaction of $45,108.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 3,960 shares of the company's stock, valued at $595,425.60. This represents a 7.04% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Alejandro M. Ballester sold 23,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.00, for a total value of $3,450,000.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 34,588 shares in the company, valued at $5,188,200. This trade represents a 39.94% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 29,500 shares of company stock worth $4,415,870 over the last three months. 2.13% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Popular from $165.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, July 6th. Weiss Ratings raised Popular from a "buy (b+)" rating to a "buy (a-)" rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Barclays lifted their price target on Popular from $185.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on Popular from $190.00 to $207.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on Popular from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $184.42.

Popular Stock Up 1.6%

NASDAQ:BPOP opened at $174.16 on Wednesday. Popular, Inc. has a 52 week low of $108.74 and a 52 week high of $175.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.24 billion, a PE ratio of 11.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 0.61. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $161.97 and its 200-day moving average price is $146.79.

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. The company had revenue of $846.92 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $878.41 million. Popular had a return on equity of 15.47% and a net margin of 21.37%.During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.09 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Popular, Inc. will post 15.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Popular Announces Dividend

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 was Friday, May 29th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.7%. Popular's payout ratio is 20.27%.

Popular 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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