AlphaCore Capital LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in Popular, Inc. $BPOP

AlphaCore Capital LLC boosted its stake in Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP) by 132.6% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 7,437 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 4,239 shares during the period. AlphaCore Capital LLC’s holdings in Popular were worth $931,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of BPOP. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Popular by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,489,936 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,057,167,000 after acquiring an additional 37,424 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Popular by 56.2% in the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,962,871 shares of the bank’s stock worth $376,314,000 after buying an additional 1,065,452 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in shares of Popular by 18.9% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,779,309 shares of the bank’s stock worth $225,990,000 after buying an additional 283,000 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management grew its position in shares of Popular by 34.3% in the 3rd quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 954,968 shares of the bank’s stock worth $121,290,000 after buying an additional 244,108 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS Group AG increased its stake in shares of Popular by 28.1% during the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 540,646 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $67,321,000 after buying an additional 118,496 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 87.27% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Popular news, Director Alejandro M. Ballester sold 23,000 shares of Popular stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.00, for a total value of $3,450,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 34,588 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,188,200. This trade represents a 39.94% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Maria Cristin Gonzalez-Noguera sold 6,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 11,255 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,671,480.05. This represents a 35.52% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 30,651 shares of company stock valued at $4,575,135. Insiders own 2.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. Credit Suisse Group set a $156.00 price objective on shares of Popular in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Popular from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Popular from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, April 6th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Popular from $156.00 to $173.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Truist Financial upped their target price on Popular from $153.00 to $164.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. One 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $168.73.

Popular Price Performance

Shares of Popular stock opened at $146.43 on Tuesday. Popular, Inc. has a 1 year low of $100.54 and a 1 year high of $152.95. The firm has a market cap of $9.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.81, a PEG ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a 50-day moving average of $140.46 and a 200 day moving average of $131.31.

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 23rd. The bank reported $3.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.30 by $0.48. Popular had a net margin of 20.10% and a return on equity of 14.53%. The business had revenue of $816.08 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $866.54 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.56 earnings per share. On average, equities 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 29th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 29th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. Popular’s payout ratio is 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.