First BanCorp (FBP) Could Be a Great Choice

All investors love getting big returns from their portfolio, whether it's through stocks, bonds, ETFs, or other types of securities. But when you're an income investor, your primary focus is generating consistent cash flow from each of your liquid investments.

Cash flow can come from bond interest, interest from other types of investments, and, of course, dividends. A dividend is that coveted distribution of a company's earnings paid out to shareholders, and investors often view it by its dividend yield, a metric that measures the dividend as a percent of the current stock price. Many academic studies show that dividends account for significant portions of long-term returns, with dividend contributions exceeding one-third of total returns in many cases.

Headquartered in San Juan, First BanCorp (FBP) is a Finance stock that has seen a price change of 35.6% so far this year. The holding company for FirstBank Puerto Rico is paying out a dividend of $0.20 per share at the moment, with a dividend yield of 2.85% compared to the Banks - Foreign industry's yield of 2.49% and the S&P 500's yield of 1.42%.

Looking at dividend growth, the company's current annualized dividend of $0.80 is up 11.1% from last year. Over the last 5 years, First BanCorp has increased its dividend 5 times on a year-over-year basis for an average annual increase of 29.65%. Looking ahead, future dividend growth will be dependent on earnings growth and payout ratio, which is the proportion of a company's annual earnings per share that it pays out as a dividend. First BanCorp's current payout ratio is 36%, meaning it paid out 36% of its trailing 12-month EPS as dividend.

Earnings growth looks solid for FBP for this fiscal year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2026 is $2.40 per share, which represents a year-over-year growth rate of 18.23%.

Investors like dividends for a variety of different reasons, from tax advantages and decreasing overall portfolio risk to considerably improving stock investing profits. It's important to keep in mind that not all companies provide a quarterly payout.

High-growth firms or tech start-ups, for example, rarely provide their shareholders a dividend, while larger, more established companies that have more secure profits are often seen as the best dividend options. Income investors have to be mindful of the fact that high-yielding stocks tend to struggle during periods of rising interest rates. With that in mind, FBP presents a compelling investment opportunity; it's not only an attractive dividend play, but the stock also boasts a strong Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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