Copeland Capital Management LLC Purchases New Position in Popular, Inc. $BPOP

Copeland Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 6,701 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $899,000.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Popular by 56.2% during the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,962,871 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $376,314,000 after acquiring an additional 1,065,452 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Popular during the fourth quarter valued at $104,955,000. Panagora Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Popular by 85.2% during the fourth quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 680,282 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $84,709,000 after purchasing an additional 312,984 shares during the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. grew its stake in shares of Popular by 2,752.6% in the 3rd quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 312,447 shares of the bank’s stock worth $39,684,000 after buying an additional 301,494 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC increased its holdings in shares of Popular by 12,382.7% in the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 258,517 shares of the bank’s stock worth $32,191,000 after buying an additional 256,446 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.27% of the company’s stock.

Popular Price Performance

Popular stock opened at $171.75 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $11.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 0.61. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $158.17 and a two-hundred day moving average of $144.42. Popular, Inc. has a 1 year low of $108.74 and a 1 year high of $174.69.

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The bank reported $3.78 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.30 by $0.48. Popular had a net margin of 20.10% and a return on equity of 14.53%. The business had revenue of $816.08 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $866.54 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.56 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Popular, Inc. will post 15.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Popular Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 1st. Investors of record on Friday, May 29th were paid a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 29th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.7%. Popular’s dividend payout ratio is 22.16%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Popular news, Director Alejandro M. Sanchez sold 300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.36, for a total transaction of $45,108.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 3,960 shares in the company, valued at $595,425.60. This trade represents a 7.04% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Alejandro M. Ballester sold 23,000 shares of Popular stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.00, for a total value of $3,450,000.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 34,588 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,188,200. This trade represents a 39.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 29,500 shares of company stock worth $4,415,870 in the last ninety days. 2.13% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Trending Headlines about Popular

Here are the key news stories impacting Popular this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Benchmark upgraded Popular, Inc. (BPOP) to strong-buy, which can boost investor confidence ahead of earnings and suggests Wall Street sees additional upside from current levels.
• Neutral Sentiment: Coverage from Zacks says Popular (BPOP) reports next week and that Wall Street expects earnings growth, but the setup does not look especially favorable for a clear earnings beat, keeping expectations balanced going into the release. Popular (BPOP) Reports Next Week: Wall Street Expects Earnings Growth
• Neutral Sentiment: Another brief note says Popular (BPOP) is expected to post earnings on Thursday, reinforcing that the stock is trading on pre-earnings anticipation rather than a new fundamental announcement. Popular (BPOP) Expected to Post Earnings on Thursday

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BPOP has been the topic of several recent research reports. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Popular from $173.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th. UBS Group lifted their price target on Popular from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on Popular from $141.00 to $163.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Barclays upped their price objective on Popular from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Popular from $165.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Popular presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $177.83.

About Popular

Popular, Inc, headquartered in San Juan, Puerto Rico, is a financial holding company and a leading provider of banking services in the United States mainland and Puerto Rico. Through its primary subsidiaries—Banco Popular de Puerto Rico and Popular Bank—the company delivers comprehensive commercial and consumer banking solutions. It offers deposit products, lending facilities, cash management services and payment-processing solutions designed for individuals, small businesses and large corporations.

The company’s product suite encompasses checking and savings accounts, certificates of deposit, residential and commercial mortgage loans, business lines of credit and credit cards.