The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Sells 10,621 Shares of Popular, Inc. $BPOP

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company cut its holdings in shares of Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP) by 2.9% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 355,694 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 10,621 shares during the quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company’s holdings in Popular were worth $47,723,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in BPOP. Royal Bank of Canada grew its holdings in shares of Popular by 23.1% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 94,352 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $8,715,000 after purchasing an additional 17,729 shares during the last quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd purchased a new position in Popular in the 1st quarter worth $257,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in Popular by 60.6% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 223,530 shares of the bank’s stock worth $20,647,000 after purchasing an additional 84,327 shares during the period. Focus Partners Wealth bought a new stake in Popular in the first quarter worth $207,000. Finally, Sivia Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in Popular in the second quarter worth $252,000. 87.27% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on BPOP. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Popular from $192.00 to $197.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Popular from $165.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on Popular from $163.00 to $181.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 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 raised Popular from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $184.42.

Key Popular News

Here are the key news stories impacting Popular this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Favorable momentum profile: Zacks identifies BPOP as a top-ranked momentum stock, highlighting its recent price strength and potential for continued market outperformance. Popular BPOP is a Top-Ranked Momentum Stock: Should You Buy?
• Positive Sentiment: Value appeal: A separate Zacks analysis classifies Popular as a strong value stock, which may attract investors given its relatively low valuation, including a price-to-earnings ratio of approximately 11.8 and a PEG ratio below 1. Here’s Why Popular BPOP is a Strong Value Stock
• Positive Sentiment: Recent earnings beat: Popular reported quarterly earnings of $4.35 per share, well above the $3.72 analyst consensus and up from $3.09 a year earlier. Its 15.47% return on equity and 21.37% net margin also indicate solid profitability.
• Neutral Sentiment: Mixed quarterly revenue: Revenue of $846.9 million fell short of the $878.4 million consensus estimate, limiting the strength of the earnings-related catalyst. Analysts nevertheless expect approximately $15.72 in full-year earnings per share.
• Neutral Sentiment: Limited company-specific news: The other articles in the supplied news flow concern unrelated companies, cryptocurrencies, ETFs, or general-interest topics and do not appear to affect BPOP directly.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Alejandro M. Sanchez sold 300 shares of Popular stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.36, for a total value of $45,108.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 3,960 shares in the company, valued at approximately $595,425.60. This trade represents a 7.04% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 2.13% of the company’s stock.

Popular Stock Up 1.7%

Shares of Popular stock opened at $175.13 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $162.93 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $147.42. Popular, Inc. has a 12-month low of $108.74 and a 12-month high of $176.51. The firm has a market cap of $11.30 billion, a PE ratio of 11.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 0.61.

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The bank reported $4.35 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.72 by $0.63. The firm had revenue of $846.92 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $878.41 million. Popular had a net margin of 21.37% and a return on equity of 15.47%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.09 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Popular, Inc. will post 15.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Popular Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 29th were given a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 29th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.7%. Popular’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.27%.

About Popular

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.