Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management Buys 1,991 Shares of First BanCorp. $FBP

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management boosted its stake in shares of First BanCorp. (NYSE:FBP) by 9.9% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 22,179 shares of the bank’s stock after buying 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 SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its stake in shares of First BanCorp. by 54.0% during the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 43,957 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $843,000 after acquiring an additional 15,412 shares in the last quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management raised its position in First BanCorp. by 3,703.7% during the 1st quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 60,099 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,153,000 after purchasing an additional 58,519 shares in the last quarter. Royce & Associates LP bought a new stake in First BanCorp. during the 1st quarter valued at $581,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in First BanCorp. by 3.2% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,770,605 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $53,113,000 after purchasing an additional 85,017 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management raised its position in First BanCorp. by 6.1% during the 1st quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 1,592,504 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $30,528,000 after purchasing an additional 91,954 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

First BanCorp. Trading Up 1.5%

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

First BanCorp. (NYSE:FBP) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The bank reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $246.81 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $250.73 million. First BanCorp. had a net margin of 24.71% and a return on equity of 17.54%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.46 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that First BanCorp. will post 1.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

First BanCorp. Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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 an increase 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 is presently 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.