First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) Shares Cross Above 200 Day Moving Average – Here’s Why

Shares of First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) passed above its two hundred day moving average during trading on Thursday . The stock has a two hundred day moving average of $25.20 and traded as high as $26.87. First Financial Bancorp. shares last traded at $26.81, with a volume of 1,247,570 shares traded.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on FFBC. Weiss Ratings lowered First Financial Bancorp. from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Raymond James Financial reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $28.00 price target (down from $30.00) on shares of First Financial Bancorp. in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of First Financial Bancorp. from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. Zacks Research lowered shares of First Financial Bancorp. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 13th. Finally, Hovde Group assumed coverage on shares of First Financial Bancorp. in a research note on Monday, October 6th. They set an “outperform” rating on the stock. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $29.50.

First Financial Bancorp. Price Performance

The business has a 50-day moving average price of $25.42 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $25.22. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The company has a market capitalization of $2.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.87 and a beta of 0.99.

First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The bank reported $0.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. First Financial Bancorp. had a net margin of 20.64% and a return on equity of 10.72%. The business had revenue of $234.01 million during the quarter. As a group, research analysts anticipate that First Financial Bancorp. will post 2.64 EPS for the current year.

First Financial Bancorp. Announces Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other First Financial Bancorp. news, CEO Archie M. Brown sold 11,500 shares of First Financial Bancorp. stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.80, for a total transaction of $308,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 229,391 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,147,678.80. The trade was a 4.77% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.13% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. boosted its stake in First Financial Bancorp. by 4.9% in the second quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 378,913 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $9,192,000 after acquiring an additional 17,549 shares during the last quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS raised its holdings in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 12.1% in the 2nd quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS now owns 20,313 shares of the bank’s stock worth $493,000 after purchasing an additional 2,200 shares during the period. MQS Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 20.5% in the 2nd quarter. MQS Management LLC now owns 26,192 shares of the bank’s stock worth $635,000 after purchasing an additional 4,463 shares during the period. Edgestream Partners L.P. purchased a new position in First Financial Bancorp. in the second quarter valued at approximately $3,158,000. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in First Financial Bancorp. by 0.5% during the second quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 297,917 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $7,281,000 after purchasing an additional 1,408 shares during the period. Institutional investors 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.