14,233 Shares of Popular, Inc. $BPOP Purchased by Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd.

Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 14,233 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $2,213,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Founders Financial Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of Popular during the third quarter worth $676,000. Childress Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in Popular by 5.2% in the 3rd quarter. Childress Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,134 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $332,000 after acquiring an additional 106 shares in the last quarter. Moody Aldrich Partners LLC acquired a new position in Popular in the 3rd quarter worth $5,712,000. Latitude Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Popular in the 3rd quarter worth $34,000. Finally, Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI acquired a new position in Popular in the 3rd quarter worth $234,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.27% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Popular

In other news, CEO Javier D. Ferrer sold 35,000 shares of Popular stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.43, for a total transaction of $6,140,050.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 96,478 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,925,135.54. The trade was a 26.62% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Lidio Soriano sold 3,000 shares of Popular stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $174.50, for a total value of $523,500.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 107,320 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,727,340. This represents a 2.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 38,600 shares of company stock worth $6,764,824 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 2.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BPOP has been the subject of a number of research reports. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (a-)” rating on shares of Popular in a report on Thursday, October 29th. Citigroup boosted their price target on Popular from $192.00 to $193.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 26th. Zacks Research cut Popular from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 8th. Benchmark upped their price objective on Popular from $214.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 31st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Popular from $190.00 to $207.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $186.83.

Popular Price Performance

Shares of BPOP stock opened at $156.52 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $9.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.86, a P/E/G ratio of 0.47 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $160.55 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $153.94. Popular, Inc. has a one year low of $109.01 and a one year high of $179.24.

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 22nd. The bank reported $4.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.95 by $0.26. Popular had a net margin of 22.36% and a return on equity of 16.08%. The company had revenue of $874.59 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $904.43 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.14 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Popular, Inc. will post 16.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Popular Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 4th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 13th will be given a dividend of $0.90 per share. This represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 13th. Popular’s payout ratio is 22.68%.

About Popular

Popular, Inc is a financial holding company headquartered in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Founded in 1893, it provides banking and other financial services primarily in Puerto Rico and the U.S. mainland.

Its principal subsidiary, Banco Popular de Puerto Rico, serves individuals and businesses with consumer and commercial banking, mortgage lending, and related financial services. Popular also operates Popular Bank in the mainland United States and provides auto financing through Popular Auto.

Ignacio Alvarez is Popular’s president and chief executive officer.