Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP) was the target of a large increase in short interest in November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 1,080,000 shares, an increase of 82.6% from the November 15th total of 591,300 shares. Approximately 1.6% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 510,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.1 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on BPOP. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Popular from $90.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on Popular from $103.00 to $116.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on shares of Popular from $112.00 to $100.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Popular from $104.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on shares of Popular from $108.00 to $96.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $106.00.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Adorno Denissa Rodriguez sold 1,825 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $97.71, for a total transaction of $178,320.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 3,332 shares in the company, valued at $325,569.72. This trade represents a 35.39 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Beatriz Castellvi sold 3,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.16, for a total value of $347,060.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 25,115 shares in the company, valued at $2,490,403.40. This trade represents a 12.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.09% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Financial Management Professionals Inc. bought a new stake in Popular in the 3rd quarter valued at $29,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new stake in shares of Popular in the third quarter valued at about $35,000. Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new position in shares of Popular during the third quarter worth about $47,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Popular during the second quarter worth about $48,000. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new stake in Popular in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $81,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.27% of the company’s stock.

Popular Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of BPOP stock traded down $0.90 on Friday, hitting $95.65. The stock had a trading volume of 394,822 shares, compared to its average volume of 429,099. Popular has a twelve month low of $79.01 and a twelve month high of $105.01. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $96.60 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $95.22. The firm has a market cap of $6.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.00, a PEG ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 0.81.

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The bank reported $2.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.33 by ($0.17). Popular had a net margin of 12.36% and a return on equity of 11.35%. The business had revenue of $736.56 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $766.62 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.90 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Popular will post 8.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Popular Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be paid a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.93%. This is a positive change from Popular’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. Popular’s payout ratio is presently 38.04%.

Popular Company Profile

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.