Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd Makes New Investment in Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP)

Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new position in Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 6,092 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $611,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of BPOP. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in Popular in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,268,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of Popular by 22.2% in the 2nd quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 3,815 shares of the bank’s stock worth $337,000 after buying an additional 692 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Popular by 17.0% in the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 3,558 shares of the bank’s stock worth $315,000 after buying an additional 518 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates increased its holdings in shares of Popular by 3.9% in the 2nd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 31,582 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,793,000 after buying an additional 1,195 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in shares of Popular by 3.5% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 607,253 shares of the bank’s stock worth $53,699,000 after buying an additional 20,522 shares during the last quarter. 87.27% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Popular

In related news, EVP Beatriz Castellvi sold 3,500 shares of Popular stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.16, for a total transaction of $347,060.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 25,115 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,490,403.40. This trade represents a 12.23 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Adorno Denissa Rodriguez sold 1,825 shares of Popular stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $97.71, for a total transaction of $178,320.75. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 3,332 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $325,569.72. This trade represents a 35.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 2.09% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on BPOP. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on shares of Popular from $108.00 to $96.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on shares of Popular from $112.00 to $100.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Popular from $90.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Popular from $104.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of Popular from $103.00 to $116.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Popular presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $106.00.

Popular Trading Down 0.9 %

NASDAQ:BPOP opened at $95.65 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $96.60 and a 200-day moving average price of $95.22. Popular, Inc. has a 12 month low of $79.01 and a 12 month high of $105.01. The stock has a market cap of $6.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.00, a P/E/G ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 0.81.

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The bank reported $2.16 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.33 by ($0.17). Popular had a return on equity of 11.35% and a net margin of 12.36%. The company had revenue of $736.56 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $766.62 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.90 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Popular, Inc. will post 8.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Popular Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be given a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.93%. This is a boost from Popular’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. Popular’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 38.04%.

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.