First Financial Bancorp. $FFBC Shares Sold by JPMorgan Chase & Co.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut its position in shares of First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,710,226 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 79,902 shares during the quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s holdings in First Financial Bancorp. were worth $68,433,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 55.0% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 97,727 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,441,000 after purchasing an additional 34,676 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 4.6% in the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 56,205 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,404,000 after buying an additional 2,458 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC grew its position in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 3.9% during the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 589,799 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $14,733,000 after buying an additional 22,227 shares during the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its stake in First Financial Bancorp. by 571.4% during the first quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 7,412 shares of the bank’s stock worth $185,000 after acquiring an additional 6,308 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its holdings in First Financial Bancorp. by 6.0% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 318,298 shares of the bank’s stock worth $7,951,000 after acquiring an additional 17,911 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 77.23% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at First Financial Bancorp.

In other First Financial Bancorp. news, CEO Archie M. Brown sold 11,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.80, for a total transaction of $308,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 229,391 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,147,678.80. The trade was a 4.77% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Gregory A. Harris sold 1,821 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.43, for a total transaction of $53,592.03. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 42,431 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,248,744.33. This represents a 4.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 54,821 shares of company stock worth $1,576,792 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 1.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on the company. Hovde Group lifted their target price on First Financial Bancorp. from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on First Financial Bancorp. from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Truist Financial upped their price objective on First Financial Bancorp. from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on First Financial Bancorp. from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of First Financial Bancorp. from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Monday, January 26th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, First Financial Bancorp. presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $30.50.

First Financial Bancorp. Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of First Financial Bancorp. stock opened at $28.83 on Wednesday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $27.58 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $26.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.89. The company has a market capitalization of $3.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.84 and a beta of 1.00. First Financial Bancorp. has a 1-year low of $21.10 and a 1-year high of $31.38.

First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 company had revenue of $251.30 million during 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 in the prior year, the business posted $0.71 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that First Financial Bancorp. will post 2.64 EPS for the current year.

First Financial Bancorp. Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Investors of record on Monday, March 2nd will be given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 2nd. First Financial Bancorp.’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.59%.

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.