Insider Selling: First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) Director Sells 16,088 Shares of Stock

First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) Director Thomas Murray Obrien sold 16,088 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.77, for a total transaction of $527,203.76. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 30,392 shares in the company, valued at approximately $995,945.84. This represents a 34.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link.

First Financial Bancorp. Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of FFBC stock traded down $0.04 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $32.69. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 344,184 shares, compared to its average volume of 942,884. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $33.88 and its 200-day simple moving average is $31.01. First Financial Bancorp. has a 52 week low of $23.06 and a 52 week high of $36.24. The company has a market cap of $3.43 billion, a PE ratio of 11.55 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.85.

First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 21st. The bank reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $264.17 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $270.29 million. First Financial Bancorp. had a return on equity of 11.13% and a net margin of 20.77%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.74 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that First Financial Bancorp. will post 3.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

First Financial Bancorp. Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. This is an increase from First Financial Bancorp.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 1st. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.2%. First Financial Bancorp.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 35.34%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on FFBC. Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of First Financial Bancorp. from $33.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, July 10th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of First Financial Bancorp. in a report on Monday, June 8th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of 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 objective on shares of First Financial Bancorp. from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $33.67.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On First Financial Bancorp.

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Waverly Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC now owns 46,429 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,294,000 after buying an additional 376 shares during the last quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in First Financial Bancorp. by 2.9% in the 1st quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC now owns 13,736 shares of the bank’s stock worth $383,000 after acquiring an additional 381 shares during the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp raised its stake in First Financial Bancorp. by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 26,260 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $657,000 after acquiring an additional 389 shares during the period. TD Private Client Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in First Financial Bancorp. by 14.2% during the fourth quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 3,309 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $83,000 after purchasing an additional 412 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hantz Financial Services Inc. lifted its holdings in First Financial Bancorp. by 38.7% during the fourth quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 1,743 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 486 shares during the last quarter. 77.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.