Two Sigma Securities LLC Has $235,000 Holdings in Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP)

Two Sigma Securities LLC lessened its stake in shares of Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP - Free Report) by 70.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,497 shares of the bank's stock after selling 6,080 shares during the quarter. Two Sigma Securities LLC's holdings in Popular were worth $235,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of BPOP. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Popular by 7.3% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,054,849 shares of the bank's stock valued at $105,769,000 after purchasing an additional 71,782 shares in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Popular by 56.6% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 603 shares of the bank's stock valued at $57,000 after buying an additional 218 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV grew its holdings in Popular by 1,719.6% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 37,775 shares of the bank's stock valued at $3,553,000 after buying an additional 35,699 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in Popular by 304.3% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 99,861 shares of the bank's stock valued at $10,042,000 after purchasing an additional 75,164 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in Popular by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,362,875 shares of the bank's stock worth $128,192,000 after acquiring an additional 39,999 shares during the last quarter. 87.27% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on BPOP shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on Popular from $122.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. StockNews.com downgraded Popular from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday. Barclays restated an "overweight" rating and set a $125.00 target price (up from $115.00) on shares of Popular in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Hovde Group decreased their price target on shares of Popular from $118.00 to $114.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Popular from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $110.00 to $100.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $111.14.

Insider Buying and Selling at Popular

In other Popular news, EVP Gilberto Monzon sold 9,600 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $102.57, for a total transaction of $984,672.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 39,170 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,017,666.90. This represents a 19.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 2.09% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Popular Trading Up 3.0 %

NASDAQ:BPOP traded up $2.86 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $99.61. The stock had a trading volume of 469,306 shares, compared to its average volume of 490,500. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $90.59 and a 200-day simple moving average of $95.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.64, a P/E/G ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 0.62. Popular, Inc. has a 52 week low of $78.23 and a 52 week high of $106.81.

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The bank reported $2.56 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.26 by $0.30. The company had revenue of $755.46 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $760.45 million. Popular had a return on equity of 11.89% and a net margin of 14.15%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.43 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Popular, Inc. will post 10.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Popular Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 18th were paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 18th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.81%. Popular's dividend payout ratio is currently 28.90%.

Popular 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.