Blair William & Co. IL Trims Stock Holdings in Popular, Inc. $BPOP

Blair William & Co. IL trimmed its holdings in Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP) by 39.5% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 4,750 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 3,100 shares during the period. Blair William & Co. IL’s holdings in Popular were worth $523,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Steph & Co. purchased a new stake in shares of Popular in the second quarter worth approximately $39,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Popular by 112.2% in the second quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 418 shares of the bank’s stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 221 shares during the period. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S purchased a new stake in shares of Popular in the first quarter worth approximately $47,000. Quarry LP purchased a new position in Popular during the 1st quarter worth $84,000. Finally, Hilltop National Bank purchased a new position in Popular during the 2nd quarter worth $143,000. 87.27% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Popular Stock Up 2.1%

Shares of BPOP stock opened at $115.79 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $7.83 billion, a PE ratio of 11.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.49 and a beta of 0.68. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $123.38 and a 200-day simple moving average of $110.18. Popular, Inc. has a 52-week low of $78.23 and a 52-week high of $129.32.

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The bank reported $3.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.60 by $0.49. The business had revenue of $800.03 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $777.38 million. Popular had a return on equity of 12.48% and a net margin of 16.49%.During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.46 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Popular, Inc. will post 10.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Popular Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a sep 25 dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 15th were paid a $0.1328 dividend. Popular’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.07%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on BPOP shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Popular from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 22nd. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Popular in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Barclays restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Popular in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Citigroup raised their price objective on Popular from $133.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Hovde Group restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Popular in a report on Friday, August 29th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $132.67.

Insider Buying and Selling at Popular

In other news, EVP Gilberto Monzon sold 18,001 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $124.47, for a total transaction of $2,240,584.47. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 24,773 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,083,495.31. This represents a 42.08% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 2.09% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Popular Company 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.