Hsbc Holdings PLC Purchases 18,721 Shares of Popular, Inc. $BPOP

Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its position in shares of Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP) by 33.5% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 74,594 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 18,721 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC’s holdings in Popular were worth $9,331,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BPOP. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Popular by 56.2% in the third 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 in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Popular during the fourth quarter worth approximately $104,955,000. Panagora Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Popular by 85.2% during the fourth quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 680,282 shares of the bank’s stock worth $84,709,000 after buying an additional 312,984 shares in the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. raised its stake in shares of Popular by 2,752.6% in the third quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 312,447 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $39,684,000 after acquiring an additional 301,494 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC raised its stake in shares of Popular by 12,382.7% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 258,517 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $32,191,000 after acquiring an additional 256,446 shares during the last quarter. 87.27% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Popular

In other news, Director Alejandro M. Sanchez sold 300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.36, for a total transaction of $45,108.00. Following the transaction, the director 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Maria Cristin Gonzalez-Noguera sold 6,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $1,671,480.05. This trade represents a 35.52% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 29,500 shares of company stock worth $4,415,870 over the last 90 days. 2.13% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Popular Price Performance

BPOP opened at $165.79 on Friday. Popular, Inc. has a one year low of $108.74 and a one year high of $169.14. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $152.15 and its 200-day simple moving average is $139.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 0.62.

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

Popular Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 29th will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 29th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. Popular’s payout ratio is presently 22.16%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on BPOP shares. Citigroup increased their price target on Popular from $178.00 to $188.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Barclays lifted their price objective on Popular from $175.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on Popular from $155.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. UBS Group increased their target price on Popular from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Popular from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $171.18.

Popular 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.