2,250 Shares in Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP) Acquired by Meridian Investment Counsel Inc.

Meridian Investment Counsel Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP) in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor bought 2,250 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $226,000.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Popular by 7.3% in the 1st quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 3,040 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $268,000 after purchasing an additional 208 shares in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in Popular in the first quarter worth approximately $42,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp lifted its holdings in Popular by 1.4% during the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 35,225 shares of the bank’s stock worth $3,079,000 after buying an additional 475 shares during the period. Edgestream Partners L.P. bought a new stake in Popular during the 1st quarter valued at $4,167,000. Finally, O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Popular by 8.8% in the 1st quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 55,367 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $4,877,000 after acquiring an additional 4,463 shares during the period. 87.27% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Popular

In other news, EVP Beatriz Castellvi sold 3,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.16, for a total transaction of $347,060.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 25,115 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,490,403.40. This trade represents a 12.23 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Camille Burckhart sold 5,917 shares of Popular stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $97.60, for a total transaction of $577,499.20. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 29,922 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,920,387.20. This trade represents a 16.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 11,242 shares of company stock worth $1,102,880 over the last 90 days. 2.09% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Popular Price Performance

Shares of BPOP stock opened at $96.09 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $96.52 and a 200 day moving average of $93.99. Popular, Inc. has a 1 year low of $71.08 and a 1 year high of $105.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 0.79.

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 the consensus estimate of $2.33 by ($0.17). The firm had revenue of $736.56 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $766.62 million. Popular had a return on equity of 11.65% and a net margin of 12.36%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.90 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Popular, Inc. will post 8.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Popular Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th were issued a $0.62 dividend. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 13th. Popular’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 33.70%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BPOP has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $120.00 price objective (up previously from $110.00) on shares of Popular in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Hovde Group raised their price target on shares of Popular from $113.00 to $123.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of Popular from $108.00 to $96.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on shares of Popular from $112.00 to $100.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on shares of Popular from $117.00 to $104.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $104.88.

Popular Company Profile

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.