Raymond James Financial Inc. Buys Shares of 32,253 Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP)

Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 32,253 shares of the bank's stock, valued at approximately $3,034,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in BPOP. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Popular by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,286,832 shares of the bank's stock worth $873,519,000 after purchasing an additional 56,222 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in Popular by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,908,406 shares of the bank's stock worth $179,505,000 after buying an additional 25,222 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in Popular by 57.1% in the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,418,729 shares of the bank's stock worth $133,446,000 after buying an additional 515,798 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in Popular by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,362,875 shares of the bank's stock valued at $128,192,000 after acquiring an additional 39,999 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Popular by 7.3% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,054,849 shares of the bank's stock valued at $105,769,000 after acquiring an additional 71,782 shares during the last quarter. 87.27% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Popular

In other news, EVP Gilberto Monzon sold 9,600 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $102.57, for a total transaction of $984,672.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 39,170 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,017,666.90. This represents a 19.68 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 2.09% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $125.00 price objective (up from $115.00) on shares of Popular in a report on Thursday, April 24th. StockNews.com cut Popular from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on Popular from $122.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Hovde Group reduced 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, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Popular from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $111.14.

Popular Price Performance

Shares of BPOP stock traded up $1.33 on Thursday, hitting $96.75. 458,548 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 488,599. The firm has a market cap of $6.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.30, a PEG ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 0.62. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $90.68 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $95.22. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The bank reported $2.56 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.26 by $0.30. Popular had a return on equity of 11.89% and a net margin of 14.15%. The business had revenue of $755.46 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $760.45 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.43 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Popular, Inc. will post 10.06 EPS for the current year.

Popular Dividend Announcement

The business 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 2.89%. Popular's payout ratio 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.