First BanCorp. $FBP Shares Purchased by Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management raised its stake in shares of First BanCorp. (NYSE:FBP) by 9.9% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 22,179 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,991 shares during the quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management’s holdings in First BanCorp. were worth $462,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Xponance Inc. increased its position in shares of First BanCorp. by 5.0% in the 1st quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 12,191 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $234,000 after acquiring an additional 584 shares during the period. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of First BanCorp. by 1.7% in the first quarter. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC now owns 42,527 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $815,000 after purchasing an additional 693 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its holdings 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. Covestor Ltd increased its holdings in shares of First BanCorp. by 19.6% in the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 4,340 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $83,000 after purchasing an additional 711 shares during the period. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of First BanCorp. by 2.7% in the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 29,978 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $575,000 after purchasing an additional 802 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other First BanCorp. news, CEO Aurelio Aleman sold 50,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.30, for a total value of $1,115,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,059,547 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,627,898.10. This trade represents a 4.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 2.30% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on FBP shares. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of First BanCorp. in a report on Saturday, September 27th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of First BanCorp. from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, First BanCorp. presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $24.00.

First BanCorp. Price Performance

Shares of NYSE FBP opened at $22.04 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.72, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.93. First BanCorp. has a 12 month low of $16.40 and a 12 month high of $22.60. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $21.62 and its 200-day simple moving average is $20.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80.

First BanCorp. (NYSE:FBP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The bank reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $246.81 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 last year, the business earned $0.46 earnings per share. Analysts expect that First BanCorp. will post 1.85 EPS for the current year.

First BanCorp. Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, October 25th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be given a dividend of $0.23 per share. This is a boost 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 4.2%. First BanCorp.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 38.30%.

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.