Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Raises First BanCorp. (NYSE:FBP) Price Target to $26.00

First BanCorp. (NYSE:FBP) had its price objective lifted by analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $25.00 to $26.00 in a note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “outperform” rating on the bank’s stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods’ target price indicates a potential upside of 26.43% from the company’s current price.

FBP has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on shares of First BanCorp. from $22.00 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on First BanCorp. from $22.00 to $20.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Hovde Group decreased their target price on First BanCorp. from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, First BanCorp. currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $22.40.

First BanCorp. Price Performance

NYSE:FBP opened at $20.57 on Friday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $19.67 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $20.21. First BanCorp. has a 52 week low of $15.95 and a 52 week high of $22.40. The stock has a market cap of $3.37 billion, a PE ratio of 11.36, a P/E/G ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

First BanCorp. (NYSE:FBP) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The bank reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.41 by $0.05. First BanCorp. had a return on equity of 19.91% and a net margin of 24.94%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.46 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that First BanCorp. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Nayda Rivera sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.19, for a total value of $529,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 236,490 shares in the company, valued at $5,011,223.10. This trade represents a 9.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On First BanCorp.

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in FBP. State Street Corp grew its holdings in First BanCorp. by 3.9% during the 3rd 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 last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new position in shares of First BanCorp. during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $4,792,000. Barclays PLC grew its stake in shares of First BanCorp. by 106.1% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 367,445 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $7,779,000 after buying an additional 189,148 shares during the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new stake in shares of First BanCorp. in the third quarter worth approximately $2,607,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of First BanCorp. by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,386,606 shares of the bank’s stock worth $92,879,000 after acquiring an additional 112,432 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.91% of the company’s stock.

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.