Short Interest in Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP) Expands By 58.7%

Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP) saw a significant increase in short interest in the month of June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 862,500 shares, an increase of 58.7% from the May 31st total of 543,600 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 316,700 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.7 days. Approximately 1.2% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Insider Transactions at Popular

In other Popular news, EVP Manuel Chinea sold 12,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.70, for a total value of $1,088,400.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 27,086 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,456,700.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In related news, EVP Manuel Chinea sold 12,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.70, for a total transaction of $1,088,400.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 27,086 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,456,700.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Gilberto Monzon sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.80, for a total value of $429,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 48,320 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,145,856. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.09% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Popular

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina increased its holdings in Popular by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 30,898 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,947,000 after acquiring an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital boosted its position in Popular by 6.7% during the first quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 2,729 shares of the bank’s stock worth $237,000 after purchasing an additional 171 shares during the period. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. increased its stake in shares of Popular by 7.3% in the first quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 3,040 shares of the bank’s stock worth $268,000 after purchasing an additional 208 shares in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Popular in the first quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp lifted its stake in shares of Popular by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 35,225 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $3,079,000 after buying an additional 475 shares in the last quarter. 87.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BPOP has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Popular from $96.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $110.00 price objective (up from $103.00) on shares of Popular in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Popular from $105.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Hovde Group increased their price target on Popular from $112.00 to $113.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Popular from $105.00 to $103.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 24th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $99.67.

Popular Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ BPOP traded up $2.33 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $88.43. 693,710 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 292,478. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $87.74 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $84.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 0.79. Popular has a 52 week low of $59.15 and a 52 week high of $93.09.

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The bank reported $1.87 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.96 by ($0.09). Popular had a return on equity of 11.67% and a net margin of 11.95%. The company had revenue of $714.56 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $706.00 million. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Popular will post 8.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Popular Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.62 per share. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 30th. Popular’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.80%.

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.