O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in Popular, Inc. $BPOP

O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP) by 4.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 87,590 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 4,178 shares during the period. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC owned 0.13% of Popular worth $10,907,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Popular by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,489,936 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,057,167,000 after purchasing an additional 37,424 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in 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 purchasing an additional 1,065,452 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Popular by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,405,575 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $175,057,000 after purchasing an additional 64,778 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management increased its position in Popular by 9.3% during the 4th quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 1,043,733 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $129,966,000 after purchasing an additional 88,765 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in Popular during the 4th quarter valued at about $104,955,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.27% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting Popular

Here are the key news stories impacting Popular this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Zacks highlighted Popular (BPOP) as a strong momentum stock and a potential top pick for momentum investors, which can attract trader and quant-driven buying. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: A second Zacks piece reinforced that BPOP screens well on style and momentum metrics, which may be helping sustain investor interest in the shares. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: TipRanks reported that Popular, Inc. disclosed a third-party cybersecurity incident affecting customers, but the available details suggest the issue is tied to a vendor rather than an internal breach. Investors may be watching for any financial, legal, or reputational fallout. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Recent chatter about short interest showed no meaningful data change, so it does not appear to be a major price driver today.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on BPOP shares. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Popular from $175.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 7th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Popular from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on shares of Popular from $141.00 to $163.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Popular from $135.00 to $163.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, March 30th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of Popular from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, April 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $168.73.

Popular Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of Popular stock opened at $156.15 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $147.26 and its 200-day moving average price is $135.84. Popular, Inc. has a 52-week low of $102.56 and a 52-week high of $159.95. The company has a market cap of $10.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.53, a PEG ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 0.62.

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 23rd. The bank reported $3.78 earnings per share (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 firm had revenue of $816.08 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $866.54 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.56 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Popular, Inc. will post 15.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Popular Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 1st. Investors of record on Friday, May 29th will be paid a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 29th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. Popular’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 22.16%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Maria Cristin Gonzalez-Noguera sold 6,200 shares of Popular stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.51, for a total value of $920,762.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 11,255 shares in the company, valued at $1,671,480.05. This trade represents a 35.52% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Alejandro M. Ballester sold 23,000 shares of Popular stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.00, for a total transaction of $3,450,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 34,588 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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 sold 29,500 shares of company stock worth $4,415,870 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 2.13% of the company’s stock.

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.