Empowered Funds LLC Acquires 22,852 Shares of First Financial Bancorp. $FFBC

Empowered Funds LLC grew its holdings in First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) by 5.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 436,804 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 22,852 shares during the quarter. Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings in First Financial Bancorp. were worth $12,178,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,929,185 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $273,448,000 after buying an additional 215,357 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in First Financial Bancorp. by 6.0% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,617,522 shares of the bank’s stock worth $184,493,000 after acquiring an additional 374,373 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in First Financial Bancorp. by 7.9% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,851,427 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $121,383,000 after acquiring an additional 354,833 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in First Financial Bancorp. by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,374,365 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $59,415,000 after purchasing an additional 22,389 shares during the period. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP increased its position in First Financial Bancorp. by 557.5% during the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 2,042,913 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $56,956,000 after purchasing an additional 1,732,223 shares during the period. 77.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

First Financial Bancorp. Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of First Financial Bancorp. stock opened at $33.82 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The company has a 50-day moving average of $32.79 and a 200 day moving average of $30.12. The firm has a market cap of $3.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.95 and a beta of 0.92. First Financial Bancorp. has a 1 year low of $23.06 and a 1 year high of $36.24.

First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 21st. The bank reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $264.17 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $270.29 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.74 EPS. First Financial Bancorp.’s revenue was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that First Financial Bancorp. will post 3.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

First Financial Bancorp. Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. This is a positive change from First Financial Bancorp.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 1st. First Financial Bancorp.’s payout ratio is 35.34%.

Insider Activity at First Financial Bancorp.

In other news, insider Claude E. Davis sold 26,123 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.45, for a total value of $795,445.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 30,410 shares in the company, valued at $925,984.50. The trade was a 46.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 on Monday, June 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.93, for a total value of $309,300.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 243,758 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,539,434.94. The trade was a 3.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 36,863 shares of company stock valued at $1,127,611 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.08% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FFBC has been the subject of several research reports. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on shares of First Financial Bancorp. from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of First Financial Bancorp. in a research note on Monday, June 8th. Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of First Financial Bancorp. from $33.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Raymond James Financial increased their price target on shares of First Financial Bancorp. from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of First Financial Bancorp. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. 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 presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.