Polaris Capital Management LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP – Get Rating) by 13.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 2,835,878 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 423,300 shares during the period. Popular accounts for approximately 6.5% of Polaris Capital Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Polaris Capital Management LLC owned about 3.90% of Popular worth $188,075,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Assetmark Inc. purchased a new stake in Popular in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $27,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Popular during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Picton Mahoney Asset Management purchased a new stake in Popular during the third quarter valued at approximately $62,000. Emerald Mutual Fund Advisers Trust purchased a new stake in shares of Popular in the fourth quarter worth $79,000. Finally, Covestor Ltd grew its stake in Popular by 68.9% during the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,096 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $90,000 after acquiring an additional 447 shares in the last quarter. 86.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Popular Price Performance
Shares of BPOP stock traded up $0.16 during trading on Friday, reaching $54.53. The company had a trading volume of 86,881 shares, compared to its average volume of 742,168. The company has a market capitalization of $3.92 billion, a PE ratio of 3.84 and a beta of 0.82. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $57.79 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $64.97. Popular, Inc. has a one year low of $49.34 and a one year high of $83.64.
Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP – Get Rating) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 26th. The bank reported $2.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.04 by $0.18. Popular had a return on equity of 26.22% and a net margin of 29.29%. The company had revenue of $693.62 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $690.66 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.69 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Popular, Inc. will post 7.16 earnings per share for the current year.
Popular Announces Dividend
The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 3rd. Investors of record on Monday, March 20th were given a dividend of $0.55 per share. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 17th. Popular’s dividend payout ratio is currently 15.44%.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
A number of research firms have commented on BPOP. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Popular in a research report on Thursday, March 16th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of Popular from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $74.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 5th. UBS Group cut shares of Popular from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $100.00 to $57.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 15th. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on shares of Popular from $90.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 26th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on shares of Popular from $74.00 to $64.00 in a research report on Friday, March 24th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $70.00.
About Popular
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Popular, Inc operates as a holding company. The firm engages in the provision of banking and financial services. It operates through the following segments: Banco Popular de Puerto Rico, Popular U.S., and Corporate Group. The Banco Popular de Puerto Rico segment includes commercial banking, consumer and retail banking, and other financial services.
Further Reading
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