Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC Lowers Stake in Popular, Inc. $BPOP

Key Points

• Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC reduced its stake in Popular, Inc. by 5.0% during the 1st quarter, now holding approximately 1.74% of the company's stock valued at about $111 million.
• Popular, Inc. has announced a quarterly dividend increase to $0.75, up from $0.70, with a payment date set for October 1st.
• Analysts have raised their target prices for Popular, with Barclays, Hovde Group, and Wells Fargo setting targets as high as $140.00, indicating a strong positive outlook.

Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC decreased its holdings in Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP - Free Report) by 5.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,203,830 shares of the bank's stock after selling 62,831 shares during the period. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC owned about 1.74% of Popular worth $111,198,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of BPOP. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in shares of Popular by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 4,192,769 shares of the bank's stock worth $394,373,000 after purchasing an additional 201,067 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Popular by 1.0% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,569,149 shares of the bank's stock worth $329,674,000 after purchasing an additional 34,322 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of Popular by 1.7% during the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,940,484 shares of the bank's stock worth $179,243,000 after purchasing an additional 32,078 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in shares of Popular by 4.7% during the first quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,485,141 shares of the bank's stock worth $137,182,000 after purchasing an additional 66,412 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Frontier Capital Management Co. LLC increased its position in shares of Popular by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Frontier Capital Management Co. LLC now owns 988,777 shares of the bank's stock worth $93,004,000 after purchasing an additional 23,214 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.27% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Popular news, EVP Camille Burckhart sold 7,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $104.14, for a total value of $728,980.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 27,382 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,851,561.48. This represents a 20.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 2.23% of the company's stock.

Popular Stock Up 1.0%

Shares of BPOP traded up $1.29 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $124.85. 882,283 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 563,697. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.10, a P/E/G ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.65. Popular, Inc. has a 12-month low of $78.23 and a 12-month high of $126.00. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $114.25 and a 200-day moving average price of $102.72.

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The bank reported $3.09 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.60 by $0.49. Popular had a net margin of 16.49% and a return on equity of 12.48%. The company had revenue of $800.03 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $777.38 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.46 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Popular, Inc. will post 10.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Popular Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 12th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 12th. This is a positive change from Popular's previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.4%. Popular's dividend payout ratio is currently 27.13%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on BPOP shares. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Popular from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on Popular from $110.00 to $123.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Citigroup upped their price target on Popular from $133.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Barclays upped their price target on Popular from $125.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Popular in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Popular currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $128.88.

Popular Company Profile

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.