First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the eight brokerages that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $29.50.

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of First Financial Bancorp. from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. Zacks Research downgraded shares of First Financial Bancorp. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 13th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of First Financial Bancorp. from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Monday, January 12th. Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $28.00 price objective (down previously from $30.00) on shares of First Financial Bancorp. in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Finally, Hovde Group started coverage on First Financial Bancorp. in a research note on Monday, October 6th. They issued an “outperform” rating on the stock.

First Financial Bancorp. Stock Down 0.6%

First Financial Bancorp. stock opened at $27.52 on Friday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $25.65 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $25.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 0.89. The company has a market cap of $2.71 billion, a PE ratio of 10.19 and a beta of 0.99. First Financial Bancorp. has a fifty-two week low of $21.10 and a fifty-two week high of $29.21.

First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 4th. The bank reported $0.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $234.01 million during the quarter. First Financial Bancorp. had a return on equity of 10.72% and a net margin of 20.64%. Equities analysts anticipate that First Financial Bancorp. will post 2.64 EPS for the current year.

First Financial Bancorp. Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 1st were given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 1st. First Financial Bancorp.’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.04%.

Insider Buying and Selling at First Financial Bancorp.

In related news, CEO Archie M. Brown sold 11,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.80, for a total value of $308,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 229,391 shares in the company, valued at $6,147,678.80. The trade was a 4.77% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 1.13% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. increased its position in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 4.9% during the second quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 378,913 shares of the bank’s stock worth $9,192,000 after purchasing an additional 17,549 shares in the last quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS boosted its stake in First Financial Bancorp. by 12.1% during the 2nd quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS now owns 20,313 shares of the bank’s stock worth $493,000 after purchasing an additional 2,200 shares during the last quarter. MQS Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 20.5% during the second quarter. MQS Management LLC now owns 26,192 shares of the bank’s stock worth $635,000 after buying an additional 4,463 shares in the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of First Financial Bancorp. during the second quarter worth $3,158,000. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 0.5% in the second quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 297,917 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $7,281,000 after buying an additional 1,408 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.23% of the company’s stock.

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.