Insider Selling: First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) CAO Sells $302,800.00 in Stock

First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) CAO Karen Woods sold 10,000 shares of First Financial Bancorp. stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.28, for a total transaction of $302,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 63,954 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,936,527.12. This trade represents a 13.52% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

First Financial Bancorp. Price Performance

Shares of FFBC opened at $29.96 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $2.95 billion, a PE ratio of 11.26 and a beta of 1.00. First Financial Bancorp. has a 1-year low of $21.10 and a 1-year high of $31.38. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $27.43 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $25.89.

First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 28th. The bank reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.02. First Financial Bancorp. had a return on equity of 10.77% and a net margin of 20.30%.The company had revenue of $251.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $249.00 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.71 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that First Financial Bancorp. will post 2.64 EPS for the current year.

First Financial Bancorp. Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 2nd will be paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 2nd. First Financial Bancorp.’s dividend payout ratio is 37.59%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Bogart Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in First Financial Bancorp. in the 3rd quarter worth $25,000. First Horizon Corp bought a new position in shares of First Financial Bancorp. in the third quarter worth about $25,000. MAI Capital Management grew its position in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 530.6% during the third quarter. MAI Capital Management now owns 1,545 shares of the bank’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 1,300 shares in the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. grew its position in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 38.7% during the fourth quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 1,743 shares of the bank’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 486 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its stake in First Financial Bancorp. by 2,741.3% during the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,790 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 1,727 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.23% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on FFBC. Weiss Ratings raised shares of First Financial Bancorp. from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Monday, January 26th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of First Financial Bancorp. from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Hovde Group upped their price objective on First Financial Bancorp. from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $28.00 target price (down from $30.00) on shares of First Financial Bancorp. in a research report on Monday, October 27th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on First Financial Bancorp. from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $30.50.

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.