Macquarie Group Ltd. Has $83.53 Million Stock Holdings in Popular, Inc. $BPOP

Macquarie Group Ltd. lessened its holdings in Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP) by 6.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 670,797 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 42,801 shares during the quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd.’s holdings in Popular were worth $83,528,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of BPOP. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Popular by 56.2% in the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,962,871 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $376,314,000 after purchasing an additional 1,065,452 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Popular during the 4th quarter worth approximately $104,955,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. lifted its stake in Popular by 2,752.6% in the 3rd quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 312,447 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $39,684,000 after purchasing an additional 301,494 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its stake in Popular by 12,382.7% in the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 258,517 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $32,191,000 after purchasing an additional 256,446 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management boosted its position in Popular by 34.3% in the third quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 954,968 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $121,290,000 after buying an additional 244,108 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.27% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on BPOP. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Popular from $135.00 to $163.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, March 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on shares of Popular from $141.00 to $163.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Popular from $156.00 to $173.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Zacks Research lowered Popular from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, April 6th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Popular from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $168.73.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Popular news, EVP Maria Cristin Gonzalez-Noguera sold 6,200 shares of Popular stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $148.51, for a total transaction of $920,762.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 11,255 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,671,480.05. The trade was a 35.52% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Alejandro M. Sanchez sold 300 shares of Popular stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.36, for a total value of $45,108.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 3,960 shares in the company, valued at $595,425.60. The trade was a 7.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 29,500 shares of company stock worth $4,415,870 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 2.13% of the company’s stock.

Popular Stock Up 1.3%

Shares of BPOP stock opened at $160.95 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.89, a P/E/G ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 0.62. Popular, Inc. has a twelve month low of $102.56 and a twelve month high of $161.26. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $148.25 and its 200 day simple moving average is $136.32.

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 23rd. The bank reported $3.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.30 by $0.48. The business had revenue of $816.08 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $866.54 million. Popular had a return on equity of 14.53% and a net margin of 20.10%.During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.56 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Popular, Inc. will post 15.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Popular Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 1st. Investors of record on Friday, May 29th will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 29th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. Popular’s payout ratio is currently 22.16%.

Popular Profile

Popular, Inc, headquartered in San Juan, Puerto Rico, is a financial holding company and a leading provider of banking services in the United States mainland and Puerto Rico. Through its primary subsidiaries—Banco Popular de Puerto Rico and Popular Bank—the company delivers comprehensive commercial and consumer banking solutions. It offers deposit products, lending facilities, cash management services and payment-processing solutions designed for individuals, small businesses and large corporations.

The company’s product suite encompasses checking and savings accounts, certificates of deposit, residential and commercial mortgage loans, business lines of credit and credit cards.