Scott Crawley Sells 2,700 Shares of First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) Stock

First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) insider Scott Crawley sold 2,700 shares of First Financial Bancorp. stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.16, for a total value of $92,232.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 22,711 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $775,807.76. This represents a 10.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

First Financial Bancorp. Stock Up 1.1%

FFBC opened at $34.52 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $3.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.20 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $33.05 and its 200 day simple moving average is $30.36. First Financial Bancorp. has a 52 week low of $23.06 and a 52 week high of $36.24.

First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 21st. The bank reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.02. First Financial Bancorp. had a net margin of 20.77% and a return on equity of 11.13%. The business had revenue of $264.17 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $270.29 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.74 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate 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 paid a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 1st. This is a positive change from First Financial Bancorp.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. First Financial Bancorp.’s dividend payout ratio is 35.34%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FFBC has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Wall Street Zen cut First Financial Bancorp. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of First Financial Bancorp. in a report on Monday, June 8th. Truist Financial raised their price objective on First Financial Bancorp. from $33.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Raymond James Financial boosted their target price on shares of First Financial Bancorp. from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price target on First Financial Bancorp. from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $33.67.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On First Financial Bancorp.

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of First Financial Bancorp. during the 4th quarter worth about $936,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,309,205 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $32,756,000 after acquiring an additional 42,116 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its position in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 174.7% in the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 72,244 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,808,000 after purchasing an additional 45,943 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,929,185 shares of the bank’s stock worth $273,448,000 after buying an additional 215,357 shares during the period. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC boosted its stake in First Financial Bancorp. by 114.5% in the 4th quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 84,595 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,117,000 after purchasing an additional 45,149 shares during the period. 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.