First BanCorp has raised its quarterly dividend by 25%, the sharpest increase among today's batch of dividend actions, taking the payout to $0.25 a share from $0.20. The new rate becomes effective with an ex-dividend date of November 27, 2026, with the record date falling the same day and payment scheduled for December 11, 2026.
The move first stood out in data tracked on Dividendly, a Madison Labs research site, which logs dividend changes across publicly traded companies as they are announced. At First BanCorp's last recorded price of $27.42, the new quarterly rate annualizes to $1.00 per share, putting the dividend yield at approximately 3.65%.
The size of the increase is notable on its own terms. A 25% jump in a single declaration is well above the pace of typical annual dividend adjustments among established payers, and it comes from a company with a long operating history behind its distributions. First BanCorp's payment record spans 26 full calendar years in the data reviewed, and annual dividend totals have now risen for six consecutive years, a streak that frames this latest hike as part of an established, not a one-off, pattern of payout growth.
For income focused investors, the durability behind a dividend increase often matters as much as its size. First BanCorp's trailing twelve month payout ratio, covering the period through June 30, 2026, stood near 32%, meaning the company was distributing roughly a third of its earnings as dividends over that stretch. A payout ratio in that range leaves room, at least on a backward looking basis, for the dividend to be funded out of current earnings rather than stretching the balance sheet, though a payout ratio is a snapshot of past earnings and does not guarantee that future results will support continued increases.
The growth trajectory adds further context. Annual dividend totals, adjusted for stock splits, rose 12.5% over the trailing year, 16.1% annualized over three years, and 29.2% annualized over five years, according to the data reviewed. That acceleration pattern, with the five year annualized growth rate well above the one year figure, reflects a period in which First BanCorp has been raising its payout from a lower base, a dynamic common among regional banks rebuilding dividends in the years following broader sector stress. The company's dividend profile scored 71 out of 100 under Dividendly's proprietary ranking methodology, which weighs yield, payout coverage, profitability, valuation and payment reliability, though that score reflects one research framework's weighting of those factors rather than an independent assessment of the stock's prospects.
First BanCorp's new yield also stands out against some of its regional banking peers. Among dividend paying names in the Banks, Regional category tracked in the same dataset, First Citizens BancShares' Class A shares, FCNCA, yielded about 0.35%, its Class B shares, FCNCB, yielded about 0.46%, and Prosperity Bancshares, PB, yielded about 3.45%. First BanCorp's 3.65% yield sits above all three, underscoring how dividend policy and payout levels can vary widely even within the same banking subsector.
The announcement lands in a broader market session marked by mixed moves across financial names. American Express shares were down 3.7% in trading referenced alongside today's dividend news, while Accenture fell 3.6%, illustrating that sentiment toward financial and services companies has been uneven even as individual dividend payers like First BanCorp move in the opposite direction with payout increases. Such day to day equity swings are a separate dynamic from a company's dividend policy, but they form part of the backdrop against which income investors are evaluating payout announcements this week.
Looking ahead, investors who track First BanCorp's dividend will likely watch whether the company's earnings keep pace with the newly elevated payout, which would be necessary to sustain the payout ratio near its current level as the per share distribution rises. The ex-dividend date of November 27, 2026, is the key date for anyone deciding whether to hold shares to qualify for the upcoming payment, with the record date aligned the same day and cash distributed on December 11, 2026. As with any dividend history, First BanCorp's six year streak of annual increases describes past behavior rather than a commitment to future raises, and the company's board retains discretion over whether and how much to adjust the payout going forward.