First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) CEO Sells $164,650.00 in Stock

First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) CEO Archie Brown sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.93, for a total value of $164,650.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 238,758 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,862,300.94. This trade represents a 2.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

First Financial Bancorp. Price Performance

FFBC opened at $32.98 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $33.87 and its 200-day simple moving average is $31.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.65 and a beta of 0.91. First Financial Bancorp. has a one year low of $23.06 and a one year high of $36.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.85.

First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 21st. The bank reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.74 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. 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 company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 1st will be given 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 3.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 1st. First Financial Bancorp.’s payout ratio is 36.75%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on FFBC shares. Raymond James Financial upped their price objective on shares of First Financial Bancorp. from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. Truist Financial lifted their target price on 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 research note on Monday, June 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered First Financial Bancorp. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, First Financial Bancorp. has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $33.67.

Institutional Trading of First Financial Bancorp.

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FFBC. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. raised its stake in First Financial Bancorp. by 137.6% in the 4th quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 991 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 574 shares during the period. Hantz Financial Services Inc. increased its holdings in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 38.7% in 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. Smithfield Trust Co acquired a new position in shares of First Financial Bancorp. in the fourth quarter valued at $50,000. Nykredit A S bought a new position in shares of First Financial Bancorp. in the second quarter valued at about $55,000. Finally, Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio bought a new position in shares of First Financial Bancorp. in the second quarter valued at about $57,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.23% of the company’s stock.

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.