3,833 Shares in Popular, Inc. $BPOP Bought by State of Wyoming

Key Points

• The State of Wyoming recently invested $354,000 in Popular, Inc. by acquiring 3,833 shares during the 1st quarter.
• Wall Street analysts have increased their price targets for Popular, with Barclays and Wells Fargo both raising their targets to $140.00, reflecting strong growth expectations.
• Popular, Inc. has announced a quarterly dividend increase from $0.70 to $0.75, which will be paid on October 1st, 2023.

State of Wyoming acquired a new stake in shares of Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 3,833 shares of the bank's stock, valued at approximately $354,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of BPOP. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Popular by 32.0% in the fourth quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 723,384 shares of the bank's stock valued at $68,041,000 after purchasing an additional 175,327 shares during the period. Voloridge Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Popular in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $11,305,000. Point72 Asset Management L.P. raised its position in shares of Popular by 140.8% in the fourth quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 201,331 shares of the bank's stock valued at $18,937,000 after purchasing an additional 117,705 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp bought a new position in shares of Popular in the first quarter valued at approximately $10,122,000. Finally, Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. bought a new position in shares of Popular in the first quarter valued at approximately $7,905,000. Institutional investors own 87.27% of the company's stock.

Popular Price Performance

Popular stock traded up $0.86 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $126.17. 510,784 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 464,296. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $116.59 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $103.65. Popular, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $78.23 and a fifty-two week high of $126.99. The stock has a market cap of $8.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.23, a P/E/G ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 0.68.

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP - Get Free Report) last released 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 business had revenue of $800.03 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $777.38 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.46 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Popular, Inc. will post 10.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Popular Increases Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Gilberto Monzon sold 18,001 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $124.47, for a total value of $2,240,584.47. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 24,773 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,083,495.31. This trade represents a 42.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 2.23% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on BPOP. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Popular from $125.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Popular from $110.00 to $123.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 15th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Popular from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. UBS Group reaffirmed a "neutral" rating on shares of Popular in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Hovde Group reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Popular in a report on Friday, August 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Popular currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $128.88.

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.