First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) CFO Sells $134,920.00 in Stock

First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) CFO James Anderson sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.73, for a total value of $134,920.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 114,537 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,863,333.01. The trade was a 3.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link.

First Financial Bancorp. Price Performance

First Financial Bancorp. stock opened at $33.83 on Monday. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $3.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.95 and a beta of 0.92. First Financial Bancorp. has a fifty-two week low of $23.06 and a fifty-two week high of $36.24. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $32.91 and its two-hundred day moving average is $30.23.

First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) last released its quarterly 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. 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 quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.74 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. 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. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 1st will be issued a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.1%. 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. First Financial Bancorp.’s payout ratio is currently 35.34%.

Institutional Trading of First Financial Bancorp.

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. raised its holdings in First Financial Bancorp. by 137.6% in the 4th quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 991 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 574 shares during the last quarter. First Horizon Corp boosted its holdings in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 56.0% during the fourth quarter. First Horizon Corp now owns 1,526 shares of the bank’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 548 shares during the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. grew its position in shares of 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 during the period. Smithfield Trust Co acquired a new position in First Financial Bancorp. in the fourth quarter valued at $50,000. Finally, TD Private Client Wealth LLC increased its stake in First Financial Bancorp. by 14.2% in the fourth quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 3,309 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $83,000 after purchasing an additional 412 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.23% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on First Financial Bancorp. from $33.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Wall Street Zen cut First Financial Bancorp. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. Raymond James Financial raised their price target on First Financial Bancorp. from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of First Financial Bancorp. in a report on Monday, June 8th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on 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 analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price 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.