Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP) Sees Significant Decrease in Short Interest

Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP - Get Free Report) was the target of a significant decrease in short interest in May. As of May 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,230,000 shares, a decrease of 18.0% from the April 30th total of 1,500,000 shares. Currently, 1.8% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 666,500 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.8 days.

Insider Activity

In other Popular news, VP Adorno Denissa Rodriguez sold 500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $104.43, for a total transaction of $52,215.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 3,604 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $376,365.72. The trade was a 12.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, 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 now owns 27,382 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,851,561.48. The trade was a 20.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 2.09% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Popular

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in BPOP. Picton Mahoney Asset Management grew its holdings in Popular by 56.7% during the fourth quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 326 shares of the bank's stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 118 shares during the period. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S acquired a new position in shares of Popular in the 1st quarter valued at $47,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of 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. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its holdings in shares of Popular by 589.9% in the first quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 821 shares of the bank's stock worth $76,000 after acquiring an additional 702 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP acquired a new position in shares of Popular in the first quarter valued at approximately $84,000. Institutional investors own 87.27% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on BPOP. Hovde Group dropped their target price on shares of Popular from $118.00 to $114.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Barclays reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $125.00 price objective (up previously from $115.00) on shares of Popular in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Popular from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Piper Sandler upped their target price on Popular from $110.00 to $123.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 15th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on Popular from $122.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $114.43.

Popular Price Performance

Shares of Popular stock traded down $1.23 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $104.12. 446,139 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 513,986. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $95.06 and its 200 day moving average price is $96.48. Popular has a twelve month low of $78.23 and a twelve month high of $110.00. The company has a market cap of $7.13 billion, a PE ratio of 12.16, a PEG ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 0.60.

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

Popular Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, May 29th will be paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 29th. Popular's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.