Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP) Shares Bought by X Square Capital LLC

X Square Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP) by 135.4% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 37,820 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 21,753 shares during the quarter. Popular accounts for 1.5% of X Square Capital LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest position. X Square Capital LLC’s holdings in Popular were worth $3,557,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Popular by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,286,832 shares of the bank’s stock worth $873,519,000 after buying an additional 56,222 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Popular by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,056,377 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $207,475,000 after purchasing an additional 10,599 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in shares of Popular by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,362,875 shares of the bank’s stock worth $128,192,000 after buying an additional 39,999 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Popular by 7.3% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,054,849 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $105,769,000 after buying an additional 71,782 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in Popular during the fourth quarter valued at about $79,842,000. 87.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BPOP has been the subject of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Popular from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Popular from $116.00 to $129.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. StockNews.com cut Popular from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Popular from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, UBS Group started coverage on Popular in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $104.00 target price on the stock. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $113.00.

Popular Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ:BPOP opened at $93.20 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $98.14 and its two-hundred day moving average is $96.99. The company has a market cap of $6.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 0.77. Popular, Inc. has a 12-month low of $80.60 and a 12-month high of $106.81.

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The bank reported $2.51 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.04 by $0.47. Popular had a return on equity of 11.89% and a net margin of 14.15%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Popular, Inc. will post 10.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Popular Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 18th. Popular’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.71%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Eduardo J. Negron sold 10,000 shares of Popular stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $104.02, for a total transaction of $1,040,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 32,866 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,418,721.32. This trade represents a 23.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Gilberto Monzon sold 9,600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $102.57, for a total value of $984,672.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 39,170 shares in the company, valued at $4,017,666.90. This trade represents a 19.68 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.09% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.