Popular, Inc. $BPOP Shares Sold by Meeder Asset Management Inc.

Meeder Asset Management Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP) by 92.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,220 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 112,720 shares during the quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Popular were worth $1,237,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Popular by 56.2% during the third 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 in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Popular in the fourth quarter valued at $104,955,000. Panagora Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Popular by 85.2% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. boosted its stake 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 during the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its stake in Popular by 12,382.7% during the 4th 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 and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Alejandro M. Sanchez sold 300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 3,960 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $595,425.60. This represents a 7.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Alejandro M. Ballester sold 23,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owned 34,588 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,188,200. This trade represents a 39.94% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 29,500 shares of company stock valued at $4,415,870. 2.13% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on BPOP. Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of Popular from $172.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 13th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Popular from $173.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on Popular from $141.00 to $163.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Zacks Research cut Popular from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, April 6th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Popular from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $177.83.

Popular Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:BPOP opened at $172.12 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $158.68 and its two-hundred day moving average is $144.87. Popular, Inc. has a 1-year low of $108.74 and a 1-year high of $174.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 0.61.

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The bank reported $3.78 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $816.08 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $866.54 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.56 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Popular, Inc. will post 15.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Popular Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 29th were paid a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 29th. Popular’s 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.