Alaska Permanent Fund Corp Cuts Holdings in Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP)

Alaska Permanent Fund Corp lowered its holdings in Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP) by 2.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 36,550 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 850 shares during the quarter. Alaska Permanent Fund Corp owned about 0.05% of Popular worth $3,000,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC purchased a new position in Popular during the 4th quarter worth approximately $44,000. Assetmark Inc. lifted its position in Popular by 55.4% during the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,420 shares of the bank’s stock worth $89,000 after acquiring an additional 506 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC acquired a new stake in Popular during the 4th quarter worth approximately $90,000. Impact Partnership Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Popular during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $142,000. Finally, NBC Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in Popular during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $202,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.27% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on BPOP. Citigroup increased their price objective on Popular from $103.00 to $107.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. UBS Group raised their price target on Popular from $84.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Barclays assumed coverage on Popular in a report on Friday, March 8th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $99.00 price target for the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $110.00 price target (up from $103.00) on shares of Popular in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Popular from $105.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $99.22.

Popular Stock Up 0.5 %

NASDAQ BPOP traded up $0.48 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $88.36. The stock had a trading volume of 446,693 shares, compared to its average volume of 452,653. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $84.45 and a 200 day simple moving average of $78.77. The company has a market cap of $6.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.61 and a beta of 0.82. Popular, Inc. has a 52-week low of $52.32 and a 52-week high of $89.70.

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The bank reported $1.94 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.05 by $0.89. The company had revenue of $702.92 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $699.76 million. Popular had a return on equity of 12.63% and a net margin of 13.86%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Popular, Inc. will post 8.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Popular Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.62 per share. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 13th. Popular’s payout ratio is 32.93%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Popular news, EVP Luis E. Cestero sold 4,641 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.42, for a total transaction of $391,793.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 26,772 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,260,092.24. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, EVP Luis E. Cestero sold 4,641 shares of Popular stock in a transaction on Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.42, for a total value of $391,793.22. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 26,772 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,260,092.24. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Luis E. Cestero sold 599 shares of Popular stock in a transaction on Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.65, for a total value of $51,304.35. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 26,529 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,272,208.85. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.13% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Popular 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.