Popular, Inc. (BPOP) To Go Ex-Dividend on September 10th

Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, August 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 10th will be paid a dividend of 0.90 per share by the bank on Thursday, October 1st. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 10th. This is a 20.0% increase from Popular’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75.

Popular has raised its dividend by an average of 0.1%per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 6 years. Popular has a dividend payout ratio of 24.3% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Popular to earn $17.13 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 17.5%.

Popular Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of Popular stock opened at $169.07 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $10.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 0.61. Popular has a 52-week low of $108.74 and a 52-week high of $179.24. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $169.98 and its 200-day simple moving average is $152.52.

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The bank reported $4.35 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.72 by $0.63. Popular had a net margin of 21.37% and a return on equity of 15.34%. The firm had revenue of $846.92 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $878.41 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.09 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Popular will post 15.72 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Popular

In related news, EVP Luis E. Cestero sold 8,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.36, for a total value of $1,499,060.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 16,013 shares in the company, valued at $2,824,052.68. This represents a 34.68% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Maria Luisa Ferre sold 3,385 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.42, for a total value of $593,796.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 10,156 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,781,565.52. The trade was a 25.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 52,961 shares of company stock valued at $9,290,985 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 2.13% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Popular

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of 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 Popular in the 4th quarter valued at about $104,955,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new stake in Popular in the 2nd quarter valued at about $54,916,000. Panagora Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Popular by 85.2% in the 4th quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 680,282 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $84,709,000 after acquiring an additional 312,984 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. increased its holdings in Popular by 2,752.6% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.27% of the company’s stock.

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.