Crestline Management LP Buys Shares of 2,285 Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP)

Crestline Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 2,285 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $215,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of BPOP. Barclays PLC raised its holdings in Popular by 8.5% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 60,099 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $6,024,000 after acquiring an additional 4,699 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in Popular by 304.3% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 99,861 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $10,042,000 after acquiring an additional 75,164 shares during the period. Wedmont Private Capital raised its holdings in Popular by 15.4% during the 4th quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 3,430 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $317,000 after acquiring an additional 458 shares during the period. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC raised its holdings in Popular by 10.9% during the 4th quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 20,966 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,972,000 after acquiring an additional 2,054 shares during the period. Finally, Perpetual Ltd raised its holdings in Popular by 5.3% during the 4th quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 104,087 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $9,790,000 after acquiring an additional 5,200 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 87.27% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on BPOP. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Popular from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of Popular from $122.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. StockNews.com cut shares of Popular from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $125.00 price target (up previously from $115.00) on shares of Popular in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Popular from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $110.00 to $100.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Popular currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $111.14.

Popular Stock Performance

Popular stock opened at $100.31 on Monday. Popular, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $78.23 and a fifty-two week high of $106.81. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $90.67 and its 200-day moving average price is $95.23. The stock has a market cap of $6.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.72, a PEG ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 0.60.

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The bank reported $2.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.26 by $0.30. Popular had a net margin of 14.15% and a return on equity of 11.89%. The company had revenue of $755.46 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $760.45 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.43 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Popular, Inc. will post 10.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Popular Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, May 29th will be given a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 29th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.79%. Popular’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.