Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP) Shares Sold by Natixis

Natixis trimmed its stake in Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP - Free Report) by 26.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 35,490 shares of the bank's stock after selling 12,901 shares during the quarter. Natixis' holdings in Popular were worth $3,338,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Popular by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,286,832 shares of the bank's stock valued at $873,519,000 after buying an additional 56,222 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of Popular by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,908,406 shares of the bank's stock valued at $179,505,000 after buying an additional 25,222 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in shares of Popular by 57.1% during the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,418,729 shares of the bank's stock valued at $133,446,000 after buying an additional 515,798 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in shares of Popular by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,362,875 shares of the bank's stock valued at $128,192,000 after buying an additional 39,999 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Popular by 53.8% during the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,312,952 shares of the bank's stock valued at $123,496,000 after buying an additional 459,231 shares during the last quarter. 87.27% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Popular from $122.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday. StockNews.com cut Popular from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Popular from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Wells Fargo & Company raised Popular from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and lowered their target price for the company from $110.00 to $100.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Barclays reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $125.00 target price (up previously from $115.00) on shares of Popular in a report on Thursday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $111.14.

Insider Activity at Popular

In related news, EVP Eduardo J. Negron sold 10,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $104.02, for a total transaction of $1,040,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 32,866 shares in the company, valued at $3,418,721.32. The trade was a 23.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Gilberto Monzon sold 9,600 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $102.57, for a total transaction of $984,672.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 39,170 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,017,666.90. This represents a 19.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.09% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Popular Price Performance

NASDAQ:BPOP remained flat at $95.94 during mid-day trading on Friday. 593,281 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 487,823. Popular, Inc. has a 52 week low of $78.23 and a 52 week high of $106.81. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $91.11 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $95.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.21, a PEG ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 0.62.

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The bank reported $2.56 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.26 by $0.30. The business had revenue of $755.46 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $760.45 million. Popular had a net margin of 14.15% and a return on equity of 11.89%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Popular, Inc. will post 10.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Popular Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 18th were given a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 18th. Popular's payout ratio is currently 28.90%.

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.