Carlos Power Sells 45,797 Shares of First BanCorp. (NYSE:FBP) Stock

First BanCorp. (NYSE:FBP) EVP Carlos Power sold 45,797 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.77, for a total transaction of $951,203.69. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 186,543 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,874,498.11. The trade was a 19.71 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link.

Carlos Power also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Friday, February 7th, Carlos Power sold 10,321 shares of First BanCorp. stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.75, for a total transaction of $214,160.75.

First BanCorp. Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:FBP traded down $0.25 during trading on Friday, hitting $20.83. 577,199 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 985,140. First BanCorp. has a 12-month low of $16.12 and a 12-month high of $22.40. The company has a market cap of $3.41 billion, a PE ratio of 11.51, a P/E/G ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $19.63 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $20.27. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34.

First BanCorp. (NYSE:FBP) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The bank reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.41 by $0.05. First BanCorp. had a return on equity of 18.89% and a net margin of 24.37%. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.46 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that First BanCorp. will post 1.85 EPS for the current year.

First BanCorp. Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. This is an increase from First BanCorp.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 21st. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.46%. First BanCorp.’s dividend payout ratio is presently 35.36%.

Institutional Trading of First BanCorp.

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of First BanCorp. by 3.9% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,193,684 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $194,630,000 after purchasing an additional 347,271 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in First BanCorp. by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,386,606 shares of the bank’s stock worth $92,879,000 after buying an additional 112,432 shares during the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. grew its holdings in First BanCorp. by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 1,169,168 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $24,751,000 after buying an additional 16,432 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of First BanCorp. by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 926,097 shares of the bank’s stock worth $17,216,000 after acquiring an additional 37,432 shares during the period. Finally, Algert Global LLC boosted its position in shares of First BanCorp. by 2.9% in the third quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 676,749 shares of the bank’s stock worth $14,327,000 after acquiring an additional 19,290 shares during the last quarter. 97.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on FBP. Hovde Group decreased their target price on First BanCorp. from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 25th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on First BanCorp. from $22.00 to $20.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on shares of First BanCorp. from $22.00 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on First BanCorp. from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, First BanCorp. presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.40.

About First BanCorp.

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.