First BanCorp. $FBP Stock Bought by VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al

VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al raised its position in First BanCorp. (NYSE:FBP) by 417.9% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 92,450 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 74,600 shares during the quarter. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al’s holdings in First BanCorp. were worth $2,435,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of First BanCorp. by 12.2% in the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 4,862,288 shares of the bank’s stock worth $103,858,000 after acquiring an additional 527,991 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its stake in shares of First BanCorp. by 48.7% during the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 2,661,695 shares of the bank’s stock worth $56,854,000 after acquiring an additional 871,860 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in shares of First BanCorp. by 22.1% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,630,778 shares of the bank’s stock worth $34,833,000 after acquiring an additional 294,888 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of First BanCorp. by 5.4% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,021,220 shares of the bank’s stock worth $21,813,000 after acquiring an additional 52,568 shares during the period. Finally, Edgestream Partners L.P. raised its holdings in First BanCorp. by 46.9% during the first quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 607,965 shares of the bank’s stock worth $12,986,000 after purchasing an additional 193,981 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Roberto R. Herencia sold 26,350 shares of First BanCorp. stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.48, for a total transaction of $750,448.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 610,669 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,391,853.12. This trade represents a 4.14% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Nayda Rivera sold 10,000 shares of First BanCorp. stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.19, for a total transaction of $281,900.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 230,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,494,919.62. The trade was a 4.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 46,350 shares of company stock worth $1,328,248 over the last 90 days. 1.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FBP has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of First BanCorp. from $33.00 to $32.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, September 29th. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on First BanCorp. from $26.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 13th. Benchmark boosted their target price on First BanCorp. from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (a-)” rating on shares of First BanCorp. in a research note on Thursday, August 27th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating on shares of First BanCorp. in a research note on Tuesday, October 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, First BanCorp. has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $29.86.

First BanCorp. Stock Performance

NYSE:FBP opened at $26.25 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. First BanCorp. has a fifty-two week low of $19.28 and a fifty-two week high of $29.88. The stock has a market cap of $4.01 billion, a PE ratio of 11.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 0.85. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $27.26 and its 200-day simple moving average is $25.00.

First BanCorp. (NYSE:FBP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 22nd. The bank reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.04. First BanCorp. had a net margin of 28.67% and a return on equity of 18.87%. The business had revenue of $260.12 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $274.32 million. Analysts expect that First BanCorp. will post 2.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

First BanCorp. Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 11th. Investors of record on Friday, November 27th will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This is an increase from First BanCorp.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 27th. First BanCorp.’s payout ratio is presently 33.76%.

First BanCorp. Profile

First BanCorp. is a bank holding company headquartered in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Its principal subsidiary, FirstBank Puerto Rico, provides a broad range of financial products and services to individuals, businesses and government-related entities. The company’s offerings include consumer and commercial lending, residential mortgages, deposit accounts, cash-management services, credit cards, electronic banking and other financial solutions.

FirstBank serves customers through a network of branches, automated teller machines and digital banking channels.