Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Makes New $1.28 Million Investment in First Financial Bancorp. $FFBC

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new stake in shares of First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 45,900 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $1,280,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of FFBC. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. raised its holdings in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 137.6% during the fourth quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 991 shares of the bank’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 574 shares in the last quarter. First Horizon Corp boosted its position in First Financial Bancorp. by 56.0% during the fourth quarter. First Horizon Corp now owns 1,526 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 548 shares during the last quarter. MAI Capital Management grew its stake in First Financial Bancorp. by 530.6% in the third quarter. MAI Capital Management now owns 1,545 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 1,300 shares in the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. grew its stake in First Financial Bancorp. by 38.7% in the fourth quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 1,743 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 486 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Smithfield Trust Co purchased a new position in First Financial Bancorp. in the fourth quarter valued at about $50,000. 77.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other First Financial Bancorp. news, CFO James M. Anderson sold 4,263 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.00, for a total transaction of $127,890.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 118,537 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,556,110. This represents a 3.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Archie M. Brown sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.93, for a total value of $309,300.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 243,758 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,539,434.94. This trade represents a 3.94% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 41,126 shares of company stock worth $1,255,501. 1.08% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

First Financial Bancorp. Price Performance

NASDAQ FFBC opened at $34.39 on Friday. First Financial Bancorp. has a fifty-two week low of $23.06 and a fifty-two week high of $35.00. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $31.27 and its two-hundred day moving average is $29.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The firm has a market cap of $3.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.15 and a beta of 0.92.

First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The bank reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.70 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $265.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $257.97 million. First Financial Bancorp. had a return on equity of 11.09% and a net margin of 20.92%.During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.63 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that First Financial Bancorp. will post 3.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

First Financial Bancorp. Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 1st were issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 1st. First Financial Bancorp.’s payout ratio is 35.34%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Stephens initiated coverage on First Financial Bancorp. in a research note on Friday, March 27th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $33.00 price target for the company. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of First Financial Bancorp. in a report on Monday, June 8th. Truist Financial boosted their price target on First Financial Bancorp. from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Raymond James Financial increased their price objective on First Financial Bancorp. from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on shares of First Financial Bancorp. from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $33.33.

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.