Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Acquires 201,067 Shares of Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP)

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP) by 5.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,192,769 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 201,067 shares during the quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned 0.06% of Popular worth $394,373,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BPOP. CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its position in Popular by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 2,239 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $211,000 after acquiring an additional 112 shares during the period. Picton Mahoney Asset Management boosted its stake in shares of Popular by 56.7% in the 4th quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 326 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 118 shares in the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System lifted its holdings in Popular by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 20,953 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,971,000 after purchasing an additional 143 shares during the last quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina boosted its position in Popular by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 31,357 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,949,000 after buying an additional 190 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Popular by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 30,709 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,888,000 after buying an additional 214 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.27% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BPOP has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded 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 research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Hovde Group cut their price target on Popular from $118.00 to $114.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. StockNews.com lowered shares of Popular from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $125.00 target price (up from $115.00) on shares of Popular in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of Popular from $122.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $111.14.

Popular Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:BPOP opened at $95.94 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $91.32 and a 200-day moving average of $95.27. Popular, Inc. has a one year low of $78.23 and a one year high of $106.81. The stock has a market cap of $6.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.21, a P/E/G ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 0.62.

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The bank reported $2.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.26 by $0.30. Popular had a return on equity of 11.89% and a net margin of 14.15%. The company had revenue of $755.46 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $760.45 million. Equities research analysts anticipate 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 was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 18th were given a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 18th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.92%. Popular’s payout ratio is currently 28.90%.

Insider Activity at Popular

In related news, EVP Gilberto Monzon sold 9,600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $102.57, for a total value of $984,672.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 39,170 shares in the company, valued at $4,017,666.90. This represents a 19.68 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Eduardo J. Negron sold 10,000 shares of Popular stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $104.02, for a total value of $1,040,200.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 32,866 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,418,721.32. This represents a 23.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.09% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.