Janney Montgomery Scott LLC Has $3.06 Million Holdings in Popular, Inc. $BPOP

Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its stake in shares of Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP) by 25.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 22,823 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,640 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC’s holdings in Popular were worth $3,062,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Popular by 56.2% in the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,962,871 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $376,314,000 after buying an additional 1,065,452 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Popular during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $104,955,000. Panagora Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Popular by 85.2% during the 4th quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 680,282 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $84,709,000 after purchasing an additional 312,984 shares during the period. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. grew its holdings in Popular by 2,752.6% in the 3rd quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 312,447 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $39,684,000 after buying an additional 301,494 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC grew its holdings in Popular by 12,382.7% in the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 258,517 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $32,191,000 after buying an additional 256,446 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.27% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Alejandro M. Sanchez sold 300 shares of the company’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 completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 3,960 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $595,425.60. This represents a 7.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Maria Cristin Gonzalez-Noguera sold 6,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $148.51, for a total value of $920,762.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 11,255 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,671,480.05. This trade represents a 35.52% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 29,500 shares of company stock worth $4,415,870. Corporate insiders own 2.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Popular from $165.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Popular from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Popular from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of Popular from $155.00 to $177.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price target on Popular from $141.00 to $163.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $173.18.

Popular Price Performance

NASDAQ BPOP opened at $167.96 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $154.87 and its 200 day simple moving average is $142.04. Popular, Inc. has a one year low of $108.74 and a one year high of $170.01. The firm has a market cap of $10.84 billion, a PE ratio of 12.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 0.61.

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The bank reported $3.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.30 by $0.48. Popular had a return on equity of 14.53% and a net margin of 20.10%.The business had revenue of $816.08 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $866.54 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.56 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Popular, Inc. will post 15.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Popular Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 1st. Investors of record on Friday, May 29th were paid a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 29th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. Popular’s dividend payout ratio is presently 22.16%.

Popular Company Profile

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.