20,489 Shares of First BanCorp. $FBP Bought by Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V.

Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. purchased a new position in shares of First BanCorp. (NYSE:FBP) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 20,489 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $540,000.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. First Trust Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of First BanCorp. by 12.2% during the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 4,862,288 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $103,858,000 after acquiring an additional 527,991 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its holdings in First BanCorp. by 48.7% in the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 2,661,695 shares of the bank’s stock worth $56,854,000 after purchasing an additional 871,860 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its holdings in First BanCorp. by 22.1% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,630,778 shares of the bank’s stock worth $34,833,000 after purchasing an additional 294,888 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in 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 purchasing an additional 52,568 shares during the period. Finally, Edgestream Partners L.P. boosted its position 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 during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on FBP. Zacks Research downgraded First BanCorp. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 23rd. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (a-)” rating on shares of First BanCorp. in a research note on Thursday, August 27th. Raymond James Financial cut shares of First BanCorp. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of First BanCorp. from $27.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of First BanCorp. from $33.00 to $32.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, September 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, First BanCorp. currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $29.86.

Insider Activity at First BanCorp.

In other news, Director Roberto R. Herencia sold 26,350 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.48, for a total value of $750,448.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 610,669 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,391,853.12. This represents a 4.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Nayda Rivera sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.19, for a total value of $281,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 230,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,494,919.62. This represents a 4.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 46,350 shares of company stock worth $1,328,248. Company insiders own 1.90% of the company’s stock.

First BanCorp. Trading Down 0.1%

First BanCorp. stock opened at $27.40 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $27.53 and its 200-day simple moving average is $24.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.18 billion, a PE ratio of 11.57, a PEG ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 0.84. First BanCorp. has a 52 week low of $19.16 and a 52 week high of $29.88.

First BanCorp. (NYSE:FBP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 22nd. The bank reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.04. First BanCorp. had a return on equity of 18.87% and a net margin of 28.67%. The business had revenue of $260.12 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $274.32 million. Equities research analysts forecast that First BanCorp. will post 2.40 earnings per share for the current year.

First BanCorp. Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 11th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 27th will be given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 27th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.6%. This is an increase from First BanCorp.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. First BanCorp.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 33.76%.

About First BanCorp.

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.