Ritholtz Wealth Management Has $1.52 Million Stock Position in Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP)

Ritholtz Wealth Management increased its holdings in shares of Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP) by 253.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 18,568 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 13,312 shares during the period. Ritholtz Wealth Management’s holdings in Popular were worth $1,524,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of BPOP. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Popular by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,016,116 shares of the bank’s stock worth $568,105,000 after buying an additional 171,391 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in Popular by 21.9% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 4,382,121 shares of the bank’s stock worth $251,579,000 after purchasing an additional 786,453 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in Popular by 21.7% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,599,881 shares of the bank’s stock worth $226,829,000 after purchasing an additional 642,694 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its position in Popular by 474.1% during the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 3,531,550 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $202,746,000 after purchasing an additional 2,916,412 shares during the period. Finally, BlackRock Inc. grew its position in shares of Popular by 2.4% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 3,479,741 shares of the bank’s stock worth $199,772,000 after buying an additional 82,374 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 87.27% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on BPOP. Barclays assumed coverage on shares of Popular in a research note on Friday, March 8th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $99.00 price objective on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Popular from $95.00 to $103.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Citigroup raised their target price on Popular from $103.00 to $107.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Popular from $84.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Popular from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $89.71.

Popular Trading Up 1.0 %

BPOP opened at $88.09 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $84.53 and its 200 day simple moving average is $75.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.70 and a beta of 0.81. Popular, Inc. has a 12 month low of $52.32 and a 12 month high of $89.70.

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 25th. The bank reported $1.94 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.05 by $0.89. The company had revenue of $702.92 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $699.76 million. Popular had a return on equity of 12.63% and a net margin of 13.86%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Popular, Inc. will post 8.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Popular Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.62 per share. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.82%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 13th. Popular’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 32.93%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Luis E. Cestero sold 599 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.65, for a total transaction of $51,304.35. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 26,529 shares in the company, valued at $2,272,208.85. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Luis E. Cestero sold 599 shares of Popular stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.65, for a total value of $51,304.35. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 26,529 shares in the company, valued at $2,272,208.85. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Luis E. Cestero sold 4,641 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.42, for a total value of $391,793.22. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 26,772 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,260,092.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 2.09% 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.