Popular, Inc. Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.75 (NASDAQ:BPOP)

Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, May 8th. Investors of record on Friday, May 29th will be paid a dividend of 0.75 per share by the bank on Wednesday, July 1st. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 29th.

Popular has increased its dividend by an average of 0.1%annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 6 years. Popular has a payout ratio of 24.3% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Popular to earn $16.51 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 18.2%.

Popular Stock Performance

NASDAQ BPOP opened at $152.12 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $142.81 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $132.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.23, a PEG ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 0.63. Popular has a fifty-two week low of $102.00 and a fifty-two week high of $152.97.

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 23rd. The bank reported $3.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.30 by $0.48. The business had revenue of $816.08 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $866.54 million. Popular had a return on equity of 14.53% and a net margin of 20.10%.During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.56 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Popular will post 15.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Alejandro M. Sanchez sold 300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.36, for a total transaction of $45,108.00. Following the sale, 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Maria Cristin Gonzalez-Noguera sold 6,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.51, for a total value of $920,762.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 11,255 shares in the company, valued at $1,671,480.05. This trade represents a 35.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 30,951 shares of company stock worth $4,620,243 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 2.13% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Popular

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its holdings in Popular by 8.2% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 465,720 shares of the bank’s stock worth $62,486,000 after buying an additional 35,226 shares during the last quarter. Bull Harbor Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Popular in the 1st quarter worth about $389,000. Amundi boosted its holdings in Popular by 615.9% in the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 38,031 shares of the bank’s stock worth $5,103,000 after buying an additional 32,719 shares during the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its holdings in Popular by 20.3% in the 1st quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 79,921 shares of the bank’s stock worth $10,723,000 after buying an additional 13,490 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted its holdings in Popular by 26.4% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 200,187 shares of the bank’s stock worth $26,859,000 after buying an additional 41,833 shares during the last quarter. 87.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.