Popular, Inc. $BPOP Shares Sold by Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD

Key Points

• Price T Rowe Associates Inc. decreased its stake in Popular, Inc. by 2.3%, now holding approximately 4.1 million shares worth $378.2 million.
• Popular, Inc. reported a quarterly EPS of $3.09, exceeding estimates and reflecting a notable increase from $2.46 earned per share in the same quarter last year.
• The company declared a $0.75 quarterly dividend, raising its annual yield to 2.5%, and plans to distribute this on October 1st to investors of record on September 12th.

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lowered its position in shares of Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP - Free Report) by 2.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,094,495 shares of the bank's stock after selling 98,274 shares during the quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned 5.91% of Popular worth $378,210,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Popular by 10.5% during the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 87,106 shares of the bank's stock worth $8,046,000 after acquiring an additional 8,262 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Popular by 164.7% during the first quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 15,731 shares of the bank's stock worth $1,453,000 after acquiring an additional 9,788 shares during the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its position in shares of Popular by 50.0% during the first quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 14,449 shares of the bank's stock worth $1,335,000 after acquiring an additional 4,818 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in Popular by 105.1% during the first quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 12,256 shares of the bank's stock valued at $1,132,000 after purchasing an additional 6,281 shares in the last quarter. Finally, QRG Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Popular by 4.7% during the first quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,309 shares of the bank's stock valued at $398,000 after purchasing an additional 195 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.27% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Popular

In other news, EVP Camille Burckhart sold 7,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at approximately $2,851,561.48. This trade represents a 20.36% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 2.09% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Popular from $110.00 to $123.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of Popular from $125.00 to $132.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Popular from $133.00 to $142.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Popular from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on shares of Popular from $125.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Popular presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $128.88.

Popular Stock Performance

Popular stock traded up $0.36 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $125.21. 199,470 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 561,324. Popular, Inc. has a 12 month low of $78.23 and a 12 month high of $126.00. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $114.67 and a two-hundred day moving average of $102.87. The company has a market cap of $8.46 billion, a PE ratio of 12.12, a P/E/G ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.65.

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The bank reported $3.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 analysts' expectations of $777.38 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.46 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Popular, Inc. will post 10.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Popular Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 12th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 12th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.4%. This is an increase from Popular's previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. Popular's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 27.13%.

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.