First BanCorp CCO Sells Second Block Cheaper
Nayda Rivera, FirstBank Puerto Rico's EVP and Chief Credit Officer, sold 20,000 shares across two August transactions for combined proceeds of approximately $577,772, with the second 10,000-share bloc
First BanCorp CCO Sells Second Block Cheaper
NEW YORK, August 30, First BanCorp. (FBP) posted all-time record pretax preprovision income in Q2 2026, yet its EVP and Chief Credit Officer kept selling, and sold her second block $1.40 cheaper than her first, accelerating out of a retreating stock rather than waiting for a recovery.
Two Sales, Both Identical, One Worse
Nayda Rivera, FirstBank Puerto Rico's EVP, CCO and Chief of Staff, sold 10,000 shares at $29.59 on August 17, then returned nine days later to sell another 10,000 at $28.19. Combined proceeds: ~$577,772. The sequence matters. A single scheduled disposition draws little scrutiny; a second identical block executed at a worse price signals urgency over opportunism. Rivera sits at the intersection of credit oversight and operations across mortgage, consumer, commercial, treasury, U.S., and Virgin Islands segments, she is among the first to see what the loan tape looks like before it reaches the earnings call.
The Record the Numbers Advertise
The underlying business looks genuinely strong. FirstBank Puerto Rico delivered a 2.02% return on average assets in Q2 2026, the 18th consecutive quarter above 1.5%, with pretax preprovision income of $138 million, an all-time record and up 11% year over year. Net income rose 24%. Total loans reached $13.3 billion, growing 5% on an annualized linked-quarter basis, and management guided 3-to-5 basis points of NIM expansion per quarter through year-end. A 17% CET1 ratio and $1.7 billion in loan originations, up 21% year over year, complete a picture of a well-capitalized regional bank outperforming on most fronts. The bank has beaten analyst EPS estimates in each of the last four quarters by margins ranging from 7.9% to 28.8%. The reported numbers do not explain the selling pattern.
| Ticker | Mkt cap | Fwd P/E | 52-wk |
|---|---|---|---|
| FBP | $4.3B | 11.0x | +27.3% |
| OFG | $2.2B | 10.2x | +17.9% |
| BPOP | $10.8B | 9.8x | +35.5% |
| FCF | $2.1B | 10.6x | +17.9% |
| FFBC | $3.4B | 9.4x | +24.9% |
| FNB | $6.6B | 9.8x | +12.3% |
HOW FBP STACKS UP, data at publish
What the Credit Officer May See First
The detail that complicates the bullish read is the auto book. Early-stage delinquencies rose $32.9 million quarter over quarter, with $20.7 million of that increase concentrated in auto and finance leases, a portfolio category directly exposed to CEO Alemán-Bermudez's own disclosure that tariffs contributed to a 3% year-over-year drop in June industry auto sales. Net charge-offs improved sequentially to 49 basis points from 65, which softens the concern, but delinquencies are a leading indicator and charge-offs are a lagging one. The number to watch next quarter is whether charge-offs retrace toward that 65-basis-point level as the auto stress that is already visible in delinquencies works forward into losses.
At $28.01 against a consensus target of $31.71, the stock prices in a recovery. Insider behavior suggests at least one person close to the credit book is not yet a buyer, and is willing to prove it twice.
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First BanCorp's EVP, CCO and Chief of Staff Nayda Rivera sold another 10,000 shares on August 26 at $28.19 — nine days after selling an identical block at $29.59 — bringing her two-week total to 20,000 shares worth roughly $578,000. The second sale came at a lower price than the first, even as the bank had just reported all-time record pretax preprovision income.