Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP) Short Interest Up 19.3% in September

Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in the month of September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 871,600 shares, a growth of 19.3% from the September 15th total of 730,800 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 420,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.1 days. Approximately 1.2% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Insider Activity at Popular

In other Popular news, EVP Camille Burckhart sold 5,917 shares of Popular stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $97.60, for a total transaction of $577,499.20. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 29,922 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,920,387.20. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 2.09% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of BPOP. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in shares of Popular during the first quarter valued at about $42,000. Mather Group LLC. bought a new position in Popular in the second quarter worth $44,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Popular in the 2nd quarter worth about $48,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in Popular by 16.8% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,259 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $111,000 after buying an additional 181 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC raised its holdings in Popular by 164.8% in the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,769 shares of the bank’s stock worth $156,000 after buying an additional 1,101 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.27% of the company’s stock.

Popular Trading Up 1.4 %

Popular stock traded up $1.40 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $101.96. The stock had a trading volume of 330,807 shares, compared to its average volume of 397,843. The company has a market capitalization of $7.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.92, a PEG ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 0.78. Popular has a 12 month low of $59.27 and a 12 month high of $105.01. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $98.13 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $92.48.

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The bank reported $2.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.08 by $0.38. Popular had a return on equity of 11.73% and a net margin of 12.20%. The firm had revenue of $1.09 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $751.57 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.10 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Popular will post 8.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Popular Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th were issued a $0.62 dividend. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 13th. Popular’s payout ratio is 36.80%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on BPOP. Wells Fargo & Company lowered Popular from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $115.00 to $105.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Piper Sandler initiated coverage on shares of Popular in a research note on Monday, August 26th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $112.00 price objective for the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an “outperform” rating and set a $120.00 target price (up from $110.00) on shares of Popular in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Hovde Group upped their price objective on Popular from $113.00 to $123.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Popular from $115.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Popular has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $110.38.

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.