Lidio Soriano Sells 3,000 Shares of Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) Stock

Key Points

• Popular EVP Lidio Soriano sold 3,000 shares at an average price of $174.50, totaling $523,500. Following the transaction, he retained 107,320 shares, a 2.72% reduction in his position.
• Popular shares traded near their 52-week high at $175.19, while the bank’s latest quarterly earnings beat expectations with EPS of $4.35 versus the $3.72 consensus estimate.
• Analysts maintain a broadly positive outlook, with a consensus “Buy” rating and an average price target of $186.92. Institutional investors own approximately 87.27% of the company’s stock.

Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP - Get Free Report) EVP Lidio Soriano sold 3,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $174.50, for a total value of $523,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 107,320 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,727,340. This represents a 2.72% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

Popular Price Performance

NASDAQ:BPOP traded up $1.23 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $175.19. The company's stock had a trading volume of 142,835 shares, compared to its average volume of 534,997. Popular, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $108.74 and a fifty-two week high of $179.00. The firm has a market cap of $11.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.86, a P/E/G ratio of 0.67 and a beta of 0.61. The firm's 50 day moving average is $166.47 and its 200-day moving average is $149.81.

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The bank reported $4.35 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.72 by $0.63. The business had revenue of $846.92 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $878.41 million. Popular had a net margin of 21.37% and a return on equity of 15.47%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.09 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Popular, Inc. will post 15.72 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have commented on BPOP shares. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Popular from $178.00 to $188.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, June 25th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on Popular from $163.00 to $181.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Popular from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday. Barclays upped their target price on Popular from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, Benchmark raised their target price on Popular from $201.00 to $214.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $186.92.

Institutional Trading of Popular

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Popular by 56.2% in the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,962,871 shares of the bank's stock worth $376,314,000 after acquiring an additional 1,065,452 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Popular in the 4th quarter valued at about $104,955,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in shares of Popular in the 2nd quarter valued at about $54,916,000. Panagora Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Popular by 85.2% in 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. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. boosted its position in Popular by 2,752.6% during the third quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 312,447 shares of the bank's stock worth $39,684,000 after purchasing an additional 301,494 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.27% of the company's stock.

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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