Martingale Asset Management L P Has $11.65 Million Position in Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP)

Martingale Asset Management L P boosted its holdings in Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP - Free Report) by 18.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 123,813 shares of the bank's stock after buying an additional 19,340 shares during the quarter. Martingale Asset Management L P owned 0.17% of Popular worth $11,646,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Popular by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,286,832 shares of the bank's stock valued at $873,519,000 after acquiring an additional 56,222 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 10,599 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of Popular by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,908,406 shares of the bank's stock valued at $179,505,000 after purchasing an additional 25,222 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in Popular by 57.1% in the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,418,729 shares of the bank's stock worth $133,446,000 after acquiring an additional 515,798 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in Popular by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,362,875 shares of the bank's stock worth $128,192,000 after acquiring an additional 39,999 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.27% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on BPOP shares. Royal Bank of Canada lifted 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. StockNews.com upgraded Popular from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Popular from $116.00 to $129.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Popular from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Popular from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $110.00 to $100.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Popular presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $111.57.

Popular Price Performance

Shares of Popular stock traded up $1.88 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $85.15. 149,506 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 473,035. The company has a market cap of $5.90 billion, a PE ratio of 9.95, a PEG ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 0.62. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $93.72 and its 200 day moving average price is $95.71. Popular, Inc. has a twelve month low of $78.23 and a twelve month high of $106.81.

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 28th. The bank reported $2.51 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.04 by $0.47. Popular had a return on equity of 11.89% and a net margin of 14.15%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Popular, Inc. will post 10.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Popular Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 18th were paid a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 18th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.29%. Popular's dividend payout ratio is presently 32.71%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Popular 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.