First Financial Bancorp. $FFBC Position Trimmed by New York State Teachers Retirement System

New York State Teachers Retirement System decreased its holdings in First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) by 17.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 132,648 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 27,547 shares during the period. New York State Teachers Retirement System’s holdings in First Financial Bancorp. were worth $3,698,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. purchased a new position in First Financial Bancorp. during the first quarter valued at approximately $34,058,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in First Financial Bancorp. by 194.9% in the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,248,076 shares of the bank’s stock worth $31,227,000 after buying an additional 824,920 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in First Financial Bancorp. by 67.2% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 907,478 shares of the bank’s stock worth $22,705,000 after buying an additional 364,597 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 7.9% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,851,427 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $121,383,000 after buying an additional 354,833 shares during the period. Finally, Jane Street Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of First Financial Bancorp. during the 1st quarter valued at $5,714,000. 77.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO James M. Anderson sold 4,263 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.00, for a total value of $127,890.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 118,537 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,556,110. The trade was a 3.47% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Archie M. Brown sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.93, for a total value of $309,300.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 243,758 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,539,434.94. The trade was a 3.94% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 41,126 shares of company stock worth $1,255,501. 1.08% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on FFBC. Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of First Financial Bancorp. from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Stephens initiated coverage on First Financial Bancorp. in a research report on Friday, March 27th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $33.00 price objective for the company. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on First Financial Bancorp. from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Wall Street Zen lowered First Financial Bancorp. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Finally, 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 note on Wednesday, July 1st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, First Financial Bancorp. currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $33.33.

First Financial Bancorp. Trading Up 1.9%

First Financial Bancorp. stock opened at $34.01 on Friday. First Financial Bancorp. has a one year low of $23.06 and a one year high of $35.00. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $31.55 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $29.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The company has a market capitalization of $3.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.02 and a beta of 0.92.

First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The bank reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $265.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $257.97 million. First Financial Bancorp. had a return on equity of 11.09% and a net margin of 20.92%.During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.63 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that First Financial Bancorp. will post 3.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

First Financial Bancorp. Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 1st were paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 1st. First Financial Bancorp.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.34%.

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.