Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. Cuts Stake in Popular, Inc. $BPOP

Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. lessened its stake in Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP) by 78.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 15,372 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 56,294 shares during the quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Popular were worth $1,952,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Popular in the 2nd quarter valued at $93,578,000. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Popular by 52.8% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,432,599 shares of the bank’s stock worth $129,722,000 after purchasing an additional 495,325 shares during the last quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Popular by 9,769.4% in the second quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 268,448 shares of the bank’s stock worth $29,586,000 after buying an additional 265,728 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its position in shares of Popular by 363.4% in the second quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 228,028 shares of the bank’s stock worth $25,131,000 after buying an additional 178,820 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its stake in Popular by 135.7% during the second quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 258,265 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $28,463,000 after buying an additional 148,682 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.27% of the company’s stock.

Popular Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of BPOP opened at $125.91 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $116.54 and a 200 day moving average of $117.33. The company has a market cap of $8.40 billion, a PE ratio of 11.14, a P/E/G ratio of 0.56 and a beta of 0.67. Popular, Inc. has a 52-week low of $78.23 and a 52-week high of $129.32.

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 23rd. The bank reported $3.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.04 by $0.10. Popular had a net margin of 17.63% and a return on equity of 13.27%. The business had revenue of $720.83 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $803.95 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.16 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Popular, Inc. will post 10.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Popular Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 5th will be given a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 5th. Popular’s payout ratio is 26.55%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on BPOP. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Popular from $135.00 to $127.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Truist Financial started coverage on shares of Popular in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $153.00 price target on the stock. Hovde Group reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Popular in a research note on Friday, August 29th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Popular from $150.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Popular in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $133.56.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Popular news, VP Adorno Denissa Rodriguez sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $114.84, for a total value of $114,840.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president directly owned 2,604 shares in the company, valued at approximately $299,043.36. This represents a 27.75% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Richard L. Carrion sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.50, for a total transaction of $2,837,500.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 193,020 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,907,770. The trade was a 11.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 2.09% of the company’s stock.

About Popular

Popular, Inc, headquartered in San Juan, Puerto Rico, is a financial holding company and a leading provider of banking services in the United States mainland and Puerto Rico. Through its primary subsidiaries—Banco Popular de Puerto Rico and Popular Bank—the company delivers comprehensive commercial and consumer banking solutions. It offers deposit products, lending facilities, cash management services and payment-processing solutions designed for individuals, small businesses and large corporations.

The company’s product suite encompasses checking and savings accounts, certificates of deposit, residential and commercial mortgage loans, business lines of credit and credit cards.