Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP) Short Interest Update

Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP) was the target of a significant increase in short interest during the month of October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 990,200 shares, an increase of 13.6% from the September 30th total of 871,600 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 453,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.2 days. Currently, 1.4% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Camille Burckhart sold 5,917 shares of Popular stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $97.60, for a total value of $577,499.20. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 29,922 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,920,387.20. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 2.09% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BPOP. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its position in shares of Popular by 661.3% during the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 10,795 shares of the bank’s stock worth $951,000 after purchasing an additional 9,377 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in Popular by 36.5% during the first quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 28,134 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,478,000 after acquiring an additional 7,525 shares in the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its position in shares of Popular by 53.8% during the first quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 9,360 shares of the bank’s stock worth $825,000 after acquiring an additional 3,275 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Popular by 7.3% in the first quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 3,040 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $268,000 after purchasing an additional 208 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management grew its stake in Popular by 1.4% in the first quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 708,385 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $62,402,000 after purchasing an additional 9,985 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.27% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on BPOP. Hovde Group boosted their target price on shares of Popular from $113.00 to $123.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on shares of Popular from $112.00 to $100.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Popular from $117.00 to $104.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $120.00 target price (up from $110.00) on shares of Popular in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Popular from $105.00 to $98.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $104.88.

Popular Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:BPOP traded down $0.68 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $89.51. 196,492 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 413,353. The firm has a market cap of $6.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 0.78. Popular has a 12-month low of $64.35 and a 12-month high of $105.01. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $98.16 and its 200 day moving average price is $93.21.

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The bank reported $2.16 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.33 by ($0.17). Popular had a return on equity of 11.73% and a net margin of 12.20%. The company had revenue of $736.56 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $766.62 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.90 earnings per share. Popular’s revenue was up 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Popular will post 8.74 EPS for the current year.

Popular Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced 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 dividend yield of 2.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 13th. Popular’s payout ratio is 36.80%.

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.