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

Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP - Get Free Report) saw a large 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. Approximately 1.4% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on BPOP. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Popular from $105.00 to $98.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Barclays lowered their price target on 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 reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $120.00 target price (up previously from $110.00) on shares of Popular in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on shares of Popular from $112.00 to $100.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Hovde Group upped their target price on Popular from $113.00 to $123.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $104.88.

Popular Trading Down 0.9 %

NASDAQ BPOP traded down $0.78 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $89.41. The company's stock had a trading volume of 538,015 shares, compared to its average volume of 415,141. Popular has a 52 week low of $64.35 and a 52 week high of $105.01. The stock has a market cap of $6.46 billion, a PE ratio of 13.38, a PEG ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 0.78. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $98.16 and a 200 day simple moving average of $93.21.

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP - Get Free Report) 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 business had revenue of $736.56 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $766.62 million. Popular had a return on equity of 11.73% and a net margin of 12.20%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.90 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Popular will post 8.74 EPS for the current year.

Popular Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th were given a $0.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 13th. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.77%. Popular's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.80%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Popular news, EVP Camille Burckhart sold 5,917 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 29,922 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,920,387.20. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 2.09% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Financial Management Professionals Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Popular during the third quarter valued at $29,000. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Popular in the first quarter worth approximately $42,000. Mather Group LLC. purchased a new position in shares of Popular in the second quarter worth approximately $44,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Popular during the second quarter valued at approximately $48,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Popular by 16.8% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,259 shares of the bank's stock valued at $111,000 after acquiring an additional 181 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.27% of the company's stock.

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.