First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) Receives $29.50 Average Price Target from Brokerages

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

A number of research firms recently weighed in on FFBC. Hovde Group began coverage on First Financial Bancorp. in a research report on Monday, October 6th. They set an “outperform” rating for the company. Weiss Ratings cut shares of First Financial Bancorp. from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Monday, January 12th. Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of First Financial Bancorp. from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. Raymond James Financial reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $28.00 price target (down previously from $30.00) on shares of First Financial Bancorp. in a research report on Monday, October 27th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded First Financial Bancorp. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 13th.

First Financial Bancorp. Price Performance

FFBC opened at $26.65 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The company has a market cap of $2.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.87 and a beta of 0.99. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $25.42 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $25.21. First Financial Bancorp. has a 12-month low of $21.10 and a 12-month high of $29.21.

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

First Financial Bancorp. Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 15th. Investors of record on Monday, December 1st were issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 1st. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.8%. First Financial Bancorp.’s payout ratio is presently 37.04%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other 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 transaction of $308,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 229,391 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,147,678.80. The trade was a 4.77% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 1.13% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On First Financial Bancorp.

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of FFBC. Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in First Financial Bancorp. by 17.0% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 4,537 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $114,000 after acquiring an additional 660 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its stake in First Financial Bancorp. by 9.8% during the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 13,737 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $345,000 after purchasing an additional 1,228 shares during the period. Hunter Perkins Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in First Financial Bancorp. during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $297,000. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC lifted its holdings in First Financial Bancorp. by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 45,514 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,139,000 after purchasing an additional 1,020 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC grew its stake in First Financial Bancorp. by 174.7% during the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 72,244 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,808,000 after acquiring an additional 45,943 shares in the last quarter. 77.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.