Insider Selling: First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) Insider Sells $604,000.00 in Stock

First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) insider Richard Dennen sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.20, for a total transaction of $604,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 61,856 shares in the company, valued at $1,868,051.20. The trade was a 24.43% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link.

First Financial Bancorp. Trading Up 2.8%

Shares of FFBC opened at $30.90 on Friday. First Financial Bancorp. has a fifty-two week low of $21.10 and a fifty-two week high of $30.99. The company has a market capitalization of $3.04 billion, a PE ratio of 11.62 and a beta of 1.00. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $26.62 and a two-hundred day moving average of $25.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 0.89.

First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 28th. The bank reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $251.30 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $249.00 million. First Financial Bancorp. had a return on equity of 10.77% and a net margin of 20.30%.During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.71 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that First Financial Bancorp. will post 2.64 EPS for the current year.

First Financial Bancorp. Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 2nd. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.2%. First Financial Bancorp.’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.59%.

Institutional Trading of First Financial Bancorp.

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. TD Private Client Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 14.2% during the fourth quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 3,309 shares of the bank’s stock worth $83,000 after purchasing an additional 412 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC raised its holdings in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 21.3% during the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,670 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $65,000 after buying an additional 469 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 19.4% during the 3rd quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,903 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $74,000 after buying an additional 472 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System lifted its position in First Financial Bancorp. by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 28,308 shares of the bank’s stock worth $715,000 after acquiring an additional 481 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amalgamated Bank boosted its holdings in First Financial Bancorp. by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 27,784 shares of the bank’s stock worth $702,000 after acquiring an additional 493 shares during the period. 77.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of First Financial Bancorp. from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of First Financial Bancorp. from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Hovde Group upped their price objective on First Financial Bancorp. from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on First Financial Bancorp. from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, 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 report on Monday, February 2nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $30.50.

First Financial Bancorp. Company Profile

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.