OFG Bancorp Launches $50 Million Stock Buyback Program

OFG Bancorp (NYSE:OFG) recently announced that its board has approved a new share buyback plan. This decision was made on Monday, October 28th, as reported by RTT News. The bank intends to repurchase up to $50 million of its outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to reacquire up to 2.6% of its total shares through open market transactions. Generally, when a company initiates a share buyback program, it signals that the board believes its shares are undervalued.

OFG Bancorp Sees Positive Trading Activity

During Monday's trading session, OFG Bancorp stock was up 4.3%, gaining $1.66 to reach $40.63. The trading volume for the day was approximately 403,912 shares, surpassing the average volume of 234,646 shares. As of now, the stock has a fifty-day moving average of $43.37 and a 200-day moving average of $40.30. Over the past year, OFG Bancorp's stock has fluctuated, recording a low of $29.33 and a high of $47.57. The market capitalization of the firm stands at around $1.89 billion, with a P/E ratio of 9.89 and a beta value of 0.98. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.86, and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21.

OFG Bancorp recently released its quarterly earnings on October 16th, reporting an earnings per share (EPS) of $1.00. This result fell slightly short of analysts' consensus estimate of $1.02, missing by $0.02. The bank achieved a net margin of 22.68% and a return on equity (ROE) of 15.69%. The reported revenue for the quarter was $174.10 million, compared to the expected figure of $178.25 million. This shows a year-over-year increase of 1.1%, in contrast to the EPS of $0.95 from the same period last year. Analysts expect OFG Bancorp to post earnings of 4.11 per share for the current fiscal year.

Dividend Announcement from OFG Bancorp

In addition to the stock buyback program, OFG Bancorp has declared a quarterly dividend. This dividend will be paid on January 15th to stockholders who are on record by December 31st, with a payment of $0.25 per share. This dividend amounts to an annualized payment of $1.00, reflecting a yield of 2.46%. The company's dividend payout ratio currently sits at 24.33%.

Analyst Ratings for OFG Bancorp

Many Wall Street analysts have reviewed OFG Bancorp shares recently. On July 22nd, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target for the stock from $40.00 to $48.00, maintaining an "overweight" rating. Similarly, Hovde Group increased its price objective from $44.00 to $51.00, also providing an "outperform" rating. However, Piper Sandler adjusted its price target downward from $49.00 to $47.00 while keeping an "overweight" stance in their report dated October 17th.

Overview of OFG Bancorp

OFG Bancorp is a financial holding company engaged in providing a variety of banking and financial services. The company operates through three main segments: Banking, Wealth Management, and Treasury. Services offered include checking and savings accounts, individual retirement accounts (IRAs), certificates of deposit, commercial and consumer loans, auto leasing, and mortgage lending. Additionally, the company provides credit cards, cash management services, financial planning, insurance services, as well as corporate and individual trust and retirement solutions.

stock, buyback, dividend