R Squared Ltd Acquires New Shares in Popular, Inc. $BPOP

R Squared Ltd bought a new stake in Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 4,520 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $574,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of BPOP. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its stake in shares of Popular by 23.1% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 94,352 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $8,715,000 after purchasing an additional 17,729 shares in the last quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd bought a new position in Popular in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $257,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in Popular by 60.6% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 223,530 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $20,647,000 after buying an additional 84,327 shares in the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth acquired a new stake in Popular in the first quarter valued at approximately $207,000. Finally, Sivia Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Popular during the second quarter worth $252,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.27% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on BPOP. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Popular in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on Popular from $146.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 28th. Hovde Group lifted their price target on Popular from $153.00 to $176.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $142.00 price objective on shares of Popular in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of Popular from $153.00 to $164.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Popular presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $156.55.

Popular Price Performance

Popular stock opened at $135.36 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $133.52 and its 200 day moving average is $124.57. The firm has a market cap of $9.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.99, a P/E/G ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 0.63. Popular, Inc. has a one year low of $78.23 and a one year high of $149.31.

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, January 27th. The bank reported $3.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.02 by $0.36. Popular had a net margin of 18.75% and a return on equity of 13.87%. The business had revenue of $806.59 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $811.55 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.51 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Popular, Inc. will post 10.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Popular Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 18th. Popular’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 24.35%.

Insider Transactions at Popular

In other Popular news, Director Alejandro M. Ballester sold 2,360 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $132.50, for a total transaction of $312,700.00. Following the sale, the director owned 57,449 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,611,992.50. This represents a 3.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 2.09% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.