Ritholtz Wealth Management Has $1.81 Million Position in Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP)

Ritholtz Wealth Management lowered its holdings in Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP) by 14.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 19,286 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 3,127 shares during the quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management’s holdings in Popular were worth $1,814,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. TCW Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Popular by 15.2% during the 3rd quarter. TCW Group Inc. now owns 94,815 shares of the bank’s stock worth $9,507,000 after acquiring an additional 12,494 shares during the last quarter. Algert Global LLC boosted its holdings in Popular by 10.4% during the 2nd quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 88,379 shares of the bank’s stock worth $7,815,000 after acquiring an additional 8,317 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Popular by 7.3% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,054,849 shares of the bank’s stock worth $105,769,000 after acquiring an additional 71,782 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Popular by 23.6% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 859,794 shares of the bank’s stock worth $75,129,000 after acquiring an additional 164,270 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Popular by 83.9% during the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 9,546 shares of the bank’s stock worth $957,000 after acquiring an additional 4,354 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.27% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Beatriz Castellvi sold 3,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.16, for a total value of $347,060.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 25,115 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,490,403.40. This represents a 12.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Adorno Denissa Rodriguez sold 1,825 shares of Popular stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $97.71, for a total value of $178,320.75. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 3,332 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $325,569.72. This represents a 35.39 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 2.13% of the company’s stock.

Popular Stock Performance

Shares of Popular stock opened at $99.64 on Friday. Popular, Inc. has a 52-week low of $79.50 and a 52-week high of $105.01. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $96.36 and its 200 day simple moving average is $96.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.54, a P/E/G ratio of 0.60 and a beta of 0.81.

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The bank reported $2.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.33 by ($0.17). Popular had a net margin of 12.36% and a return on equity of 11.35%. The firm had revenue of $736.56 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $766.62 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.90 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Popular, Inc. will post 8.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Popular Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th were issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.81%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 6th. This is a positive change from Popular’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. Popular’s dividend payout ratio is 38.04%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Popular from $90.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. UBS Group assumed coverage on Popular in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $104.00 target price on the stock. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on Popular from $112.00 to $100.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on Popular from $108.00 to $96.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on Popular from $103.00 to $116.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $108.25.

About Popular

Popular, Inc, through its subsidiaries, provides various retail, mortgage, and commercial banking products and services in Puerto Rico, the United States, and the British Virgin Islands. The company provides savings, NOW, money market, and other interest-bearing demand accounts; non-interest bearing demand deposits; and certificates of deposit.