First Financial Bancorp. $FFBC Shares Purchased by Legacy Financial Advisors Inc.

Legacy Financial Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) by 235.3% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 45,933 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 32,235 shares during the period. Legacy Financial Advisors Inc.’s holdings in First Financial Bancorp. were worth $1,554,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in First Financial Bancorp. by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,929,185 shares of the bank’s stock worth $273,448,000 after buying an additional 215,357 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in First Financial Bancorp. by 6.0% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,617,522 shares of the bank’s stock worth $184,493,000 after purchasing an additional 374,373 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its holdings in First Financial Bancorp. by 7.9% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,851,427 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $121,383,000 after purchasing an additional 354,833 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,374,365 shares of the bank’s stock worth $59,415,000 after purchasing an additional 22,389 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 557.5% in the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 2,042,913 shares of the bank’s stock worth $56,956,000 after buying an additional 1,732,223 shares during the period. 77.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

First Financial Bancorp. Stock Down 0.6%

NASDAQ:FFBC opened at $32.63 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.85. The company has a market capitalization of $3.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.53 and a beta of 0.92. First Financial Bancorp. has a one year low of $23.06 and a one year high of $36.24. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $33.92 and a 200 day simple moving average of $31.03.

First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 21st. The bank reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.02. First Financial Bancorp. had a return on equity of 11.13% and a net margin of 20.77%.The business had revenue of $264.17 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $270.29 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.74 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that First Financial Bancorp. will post 3.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First Financial Bancorp. Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 1st will be issued a $0.26 dividend. This is a boost from First Financial Bancorp.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 1st. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.2%. First Financial Bancorp.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.75%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on FFBC. Wall Street Zen downgraded First Financial Bancorp. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of First Financial Bancorp. from $33.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Raymond James Financial raised their price target on shares of First Financial Bancorp. from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of First Financial Bancorp. in a report on Monday, June 8th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $33.67.

Insider Buying and Selling at First Financial Bancorp.

In other news, CEO Archie M. Brown sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.93, for a total transaction of $309,300.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 243,758 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,539,434.94. This represents a 3.94% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Scott T. Crawley sold 2,700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.16, for a total value of $92,232.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 22,711 shares in the company, valued at approximately $775,807.76. This trade represents a 10.63% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 32,788 shares of company stock worth $1,063,656 in the last quarter. 1.08% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About First Financial Bancorp.

First Financial Bancorp (NASDAQ: FFBC) is a bank holding company headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, and the parent of First Financial Bank. The company provides a comprehensive suite of commercial and consumer banking services through a network of more than 100 full-service banking centers and mortgage offices across Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky. Its core mission centers on delivering personalized relationship banking to businesses, individuals and public sector clients.

First Financial Bank’s product portfolio includes deposit solutions such as checking, savings and money market accounts, alongside a range of lending offerings that cover commercial and industrial loans, real estate and construction financing, home mortgages and home equity lines of credit.