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

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

Popular Price Performance

Shares of Popular stock traded down $0.16 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $96.09. 399,498 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 424,618. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $96.54 and a 200-day simple moving average of $93.92. The firm has a market cap of $6.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.05, a PEG ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 0.79. Popular has a 52 week low of $71.08 and a 52 week high of $105.01.

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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). The company had revenue of $736.56 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $766.62 million. Popular had a net margin of 12.36% and a return on equity of 11.65%. The firm’s revenue was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.90 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Popular will post 8.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Popular Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 13th. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.58%. Popular’s dividend payout ratio is 33.70%.

Insider Activity at Popular

In other Popular news, EVP Camille Burckhart sold 5,917 shares of the business’s 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 29,922 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,920,387.20. The trade was a 16.51 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Beatriz Castellvi sold 3,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 25,115 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,490,403.40. This represents a 12.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 11,242 shares of company stock valued at $1,102,880. Corporate insiders own 2.09% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of BPOP. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in shares of Popular by 52.2% during the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 835,311 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $73,867,000 after purchasing an additional 286,450 shares during the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Popular by 235.5% in the 3rd quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 332,093 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $33,299,000 after buying an additional 233,119 shares during the period. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Popular during the first quarter worth $19,997,000. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Popular by 23.6% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 859,794 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $75,129,000 after acquiring an additional 164,270 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in Popular by 10.3% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,218,828 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $107,781,000 after acquiring an additional 113,838 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.27% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on shares of Popular from $108.00 to $96.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Hovde Group lifted 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. Wells Fargo & Company cut 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. Barclays decreased their price objective on Popular from $117.00 to $104.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Piper Sandler cut their target price on Popular from $112.00 to $100.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $104.88.

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.