Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. Makes New Investment in First BanCorp. $FBP

Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. acquired a new stake in First BanCorp. (NYSE:FBP) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 22,799 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $475,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in FBP. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of First BanCorp. by 103.4% in the first quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,383 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 703 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lifted its stake in shares of First BanCorp. by 1.9% in the first quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 90,641 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,738,000 after purchasing an additional 1,651 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its stake in shares of First BanCorp. by 54.0% in the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 43,957 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $843,000 after purchasing an additional 15,412 shares during the period. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of First BanCorp. in the first quarter valued at about $96,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of First BanCorp. by 3.0% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 953,755 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $18,283,000 after purchasing an additional 27,658 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.91% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on FBP. UBS Group set a $25.00 price objective on shares of First BanCorp. in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. Truist Financial assumed coverage on shares of First BanCorp. in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $25.00 price objective for the company. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of First BanCorp. in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of First BanCorp. from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, First BanCorp. currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $24.33.

Insider Activity at First BanCorp.

In other news, CEO Aurelio Aleman sold 50,000 shares of First BanCorp. stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.30, for a total transaction of $1,115,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,059,547 shares in the company, valued at $23,627,898.10. The trade was a 4.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 2.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

First BanCorp. Stock Performance

Shares of FBP opened at $21.09 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The stock has a market cap of $3.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.22, a PEG ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a 50-day moving average of $21.77 and a two-hundred day moving average of $20.75. First BanCorp. has a 12-month low of $16.40 and a 12-month high of $22.60.

First BanCorp. (NYSE:FBP) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The bank reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $246.81 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $250.73 million. First BanCorp. had a net margin of 24.71% and a return on equity of 17.54%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.46 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that First BanCorp. will post 1.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First BanCorp. Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, October 25th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.23 per share. This is an increase from First BanCorp.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.4%. First BanCorp.’s payout ratio is 38.30%.

First BanCorp. Profile

First BanCorp. operates as a bank holding company for FirstBank Puerto Rico that provides a range of financial products and services to consumers and commercial customers. The company operates through six segments: Commercial and Corporate Banking, Mortgage Banking, Consumer (Retail) Banking, Treasury and Investments, United States Operations, and Virgin Islands Operations.