First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) Director Sells 16,088 Shares of Stock

First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) Director Thomas Murray Obrien sold 16,088 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.77, for a total transaction of $527,203.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 30,392 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $995,945.84. This trade represents a 34.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

First Financial Bancorp. Stock Performance

FFBC stock traded down $0.04 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $32.69. 344,184 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 942,884. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $33.88 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $31.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.85. First Financial Bancorp. has a 52 week low of $23.06 and a 52 week high of $36.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.43 billion, a PE ratio of 11.55 and a beta of 0.92.

First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 21st. The bank reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $264.17 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $270.29 million. First Financial Bancorp. had a return on equity of 11.13% and a net margin of 20.77%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.74 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that First Financial Bancorp. will post 3.22 EPS for the current year.

First Financial Bancorp. Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. This is an increase from First Financial Bancorp.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 1st. First Financial Bancorp.’s dividend payout ratio is presently 35.34%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On First Financial Bancorp.

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. lifted its position in First Financial Bancorp. by 137.6% during the fourth quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 991 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 574 shares during the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. raised its position in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 38.7% during the 4th quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 1,743 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 486 shares in the last quarter. Smithfield Trust Co purchased a new stake in shares of First Financial Bancorp. during the 4th quarter valued at $50,000. Nykredit A S bought a new stake in shares of First Financial Bancorp. during the 2nd quarter worth $55,000. Finally, Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio bought a new stake in shares of First Financial Bancorp. during the 2nd quarter worth $57,000. 77.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on FFBC shares. Truist Financial increased 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 note on Friday, July 10th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of First Financial Bancorp. in a report on Monday, June 8th. Wall Street Zen downgraded First Financial Bancorp. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Finally, Raymond James Financial lifted their price objective on First Financial Bancorp. from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $33.67.

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.