Karen Woods Sells 10,000 Shares of First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) Stock

First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) CAO Karen Woods sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.28, for a total transaction of $302,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 63,954 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,936,527.12. This represents a 13.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

First Financial Bancorp. Price Performance

First Financial Bancorp. stock opened at $30.20 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.35 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. First Financial Bancorp. has a 12 month low of $21.10 and a 12 month high of $31.38. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $27.37 and its 200-day moving average is $25.86.

First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 28th. The bank reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.02. First Financial Bancorp. had a return on equity of 10.77% and a net margin of 20.30%.The firm had revenue of $251.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $249.00 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.71 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that First Financial Bancorp. will post 2.64 EPS for the current year.

First Financial Bancorp. Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 2nd will be issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 2nd. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.3%. First Financial Bancorp.’s payout ratio is currently 37.59%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on FFBC shares. Truist Financial boosted their price target on First Financial Bancorp. from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on First Financial Bancorp. from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Hovde Group raised their price target on First Financial Bancorp. from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $28.00 price target (down previously from $30.00) on shares of First Financial Bancorp. in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of First Financial Bancorp. from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $30.50.

Institutional Trading of First Financial Bancorp.

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. First Horizon Corp bought a new position in First Financial Bancorp. in the third quarter valued at about $25,000. Bogart Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of First Financial Bancorp. in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. MAI Capital Management grew its holdings in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 530.6% during the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. increased its position in First Financial Bancorp. by 38.7% during the 4th quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 1,743 shares of the bank’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 486 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its position in First Financial Bancorp. by 2,741.3% during the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,790 shares of the bank’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 1,727 shares in the last quarter. 77.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.