State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Grows Stock Holdings in Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP)

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D lifted its position in shares of Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP) by 3.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 22,089 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 819 shares during the period. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D’s holdings in Popular were worth $2,078,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. TCW Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Popular by 15.2% during the third quarter. TCW Group Inc. now owns 94,815 shares of the bank’s stock worth $9,507,000 after purchasing an additional 12,494 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Popular by 7.3% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,054,849 shares of the bank’s stock worth $105,769,000 after purchasing an additional 71,782 shares in the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its position in shares of Popular by 284.9% during the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 72,403 shares of the bank’s stock worth $7,260,000 after purchasing an additional 53,590 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Popular by 83.9% during the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 9,546 shares of the bank’s stock worth $957,000 after purchasing an additional 4,354 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its position in shares of Popular by 279.5% during the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 38,798 shares of the bank’s stock worth $3,890,000 after purchasing an additional 28,574 shares in the last quarter. 87.27% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on BPOP. UBS Group began coverage on shares of Popular in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $104.00 target price on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of Popular from $116.00 to $129.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Popular from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. StockNews.com raised shares of Popular from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Popular from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $112.25.

Popular Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:BPOP opened at $100.69 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 0.82. Popular, Inc. has a 1-year low of $80.60 and a 1-year high of $106.81. The company’s fifty day moving average is $98.61 and its two-hundred day moving average is $97.80.

Popular (NASDAQ:BPOP) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The bank reported $2.51 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.04 by $0.47. Popular had a net margin of 14.15% and a return on equity of 11.89%. Sell-side analysts expect that Popular, Inc. will post 10.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Gilberto Monzon sold 9,600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 39,170 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,017,666.90. This represents a 19.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Eduardo J. Negron sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $104.02, for a total transaction of $1,040,200.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 32,866 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,418,721.32. This represents a 23.33 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.09% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.