First BanCorp. (NYSE:FBP) Shares Sold by Man Group plc

Man Group plc decreased its holdings in shares of First BanCorp. (NYSE:FBP) by 50.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 98,389 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 98,207 shares during the quarter. Man Group plc owned about 0.06% of First BanCorp. worth $1,829,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in FBP. Barclays PLC increased its position in shares of First BanCorp. by 106.1% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 367,445 shares of the bank’s stock worth $7,779,000 after purchasing an additional 189,148 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its position in shares of First BanCorp. by 405.8% in the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 133,171 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,476,000 after purchasing an additional 106,841 shares during the last quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management increased its position in shares of First BanCorp. by 21.0% in the 4th quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 16,338 shares of the bank’s stock worth $304,000 after purchasing an additional 2,837 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in shares of First BanCorp. by 31.9% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,243 shares of the bank’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 542 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV increased its position in shares of First BanCorp. by 61.7% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 8,464 shares of the bank’s stock worth $157,000 after purchasing an additional 3,230 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.91% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on FBP. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of First BanCorp. from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of First BanCorp. from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, First BanCorp. has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $22.80.

First BanCorp. Stock Up 0.3%

FBP stock opened at $20.21 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.17, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $19.21 and its 200-day simple moving average is $19.60. First BanCorp. has a 52-week low of $16.40 and a 52-week high of $22.40.

First BanCorp. (NYSE:FBP) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The bank reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.43 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $248.13 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $243.08 million. First BanCorp. had a net margin of 24.37% and a return on equity of 18.89%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.44 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that First BanCorp. will post 1.85 EPS for the current year.

First BanCorp. Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 29th will be paid a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 29th. First BanCorp.’s dividend payout ratio is 39.13%.

First BanCorp. Company 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.