Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. Sells 27,446 Shares of Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP)

Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. trimmed its holdings in Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP) by 10.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 247,480 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 27,446 shares during the quarter. Popular comprises approximately 1.3% of Basswood Capital Management L.L.C.’s portfolio, making the stock its 29th biggest position. Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. owned about 0.34% of Popular worth $24,815,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Financial Management Professionals Inc. bought a new position in shares of Popular during the 3rd quarter valued at $29,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new position in Popular in the third quarter valued at about $35,000. Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new position in Popular in the third quarter worth about $47,000. Mather Group LLC. purchased a new stake in shares of Popular during the 2nd quarter valued at about $44,000. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Popular during the 2nd quarter valued at about $48,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.27% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Popular

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

Popular Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of Popular stock opened at $99.36 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $7.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.50, a PEG ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 0.79. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $96.55 and its 200-day simple moving average is $94.70. Popular, Inc. has a 52 week low of $72.80 and a 52 week high of $105.01.

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The bank reported $2.16 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.33 by ($0.17). Popular had a return on equity of 11.35% and a net margin of 12.36%. The business 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 firm posted $1.90 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Popular, Inc. will post 8.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Popular Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.82%. This is a boost from Popular’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. Popular’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 33.70%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on BPOP. Piper Sandler cut their target price on shares of Popular from $112.00 to $100.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Popular from $105.00 to $98.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Barclays decreased their target price on Popular from $117.00 to $104.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on Popular from $108.00 to $96.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Popular currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $104.88.

Popular Company 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.