Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP) Short Interest Down 28.9% in October

Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP) was the target of a large decline in short interest during the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 704,000 shares, a decline of 28.9% from the October 15th total of 990,200 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 486,600 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.4 days. Approximately 1.0% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Insider Transactions at Popular

In other news, VP Adorno Denissa Rodriguez sold 1,825 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $97.71, for a total transaction of $178,320.75. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 3,332 shares in the company, valued at approximately $325,569.72. This trade represents a 35.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Beatriz Castellvi sold 3,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 11,242 shares of company stock worth $1,102,880. 2.09% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Popular

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Barclays PLC increased its holdings in Popular by 8.5% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 60,099 shares of the bank’s stock worth $6,024,000 after buying an additional 4,699 shares during the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio acquired a new position in shares of Popular during the 3rd quarter worth $2,800,000. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Popular during the 3rd quarter worth $611,000. MML Investors Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Popular during the 3rd quarter valued at $216,000. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Popular by 152.8% in the 3rd quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 6,329 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $635,000 after purchasing an additional 3,825 shares during the last quarter. 87.27% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BPOP has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective 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. Barclays cut their target price on shares of Popular from $117.00 to $104.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $120.00 price target (up from $110.00) on shares of Popular in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on Popular from $108.00 to $96.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Hovde Group upped their target price on Popular from $113.00 to $123.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $104.88.

Popular Stock Performance

Shares of BPOP stock traded down $0.16 on Friday, reaching $96.09. 399,498 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 424,618. The company has a market capitalization of $6.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 0.79. Popular has a 12-month low of $71.08 and a 12-month high of $105.01. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $96.54 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $93.92.

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The bank reported $2.16 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.33 by ($0.17). The business had revenue of $736.56 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $766.62 million. Popular had a net margin of 12.36% and a return on equity of 11.65%. Popular’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.90 EPS. Research analysts predict that Popular will post 8.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Popular Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th were paid a dividend of $0.62 per share. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis 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%.

About Popular

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.