First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) Insider Sells $92,232.00 in Stock

First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) insider Scott Crawley sold 2,700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.16, for a total value of $92,232.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 22,711 shares in the company, valued at $775,807.76. The trade was a 10.63% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

First Financial Bancorp. Trading Down 0.4%

NASDAQ:FFBC opened at $34.39 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $3.61 billion, a PE ratio of 12.15 and a beta of 0.92. The business’s 50 day moving average is $33.12 and its two-hundred day moving average is $30.41. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. First Financial Bancorp. has a 52 week low of $23.06 and a 52 week high of $36.24.

First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 21st. The bank reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.02. First Financial Bancorp. had a return on equity of 11.13% and a net margin of 20.77%.The business had revenue of $264.17 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $270.29 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.74 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that First Financial Bancorp. will post 3.22 EPS for the current year.

First Financial Bancorp. Increases Dividend

The firm 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 $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 1st. This is an increase from First Financial Bancorp.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. First Financial Bancorp.’s payout ratio is 35.34%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Raymond James Financial raised their target price 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. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of First Financial Bancorp. in a research report on Monday, June 8th. Wall Street Zen lowered First Financial Bancorp. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price target on First Financial Bancorp. from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Finally, Truist Financial upped their price objective 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. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, First Financial Bancorp. presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $33.67.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On First Financial Bancorp.

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in FFBC. Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC increased its stake in First Financial Bancorp. by 11.4% during the second quarter. Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC now owns 18,620 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $630,000 after acquiring an additional 1,907 shares during the period. First Financial Bank Trust Division grew its holdings in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. First Financial Bank Trust Division now owns 836,135 shares of the bank’s stock worth $28,286,000 after purchasing an additional 14,763 shares in the last quarter. Trust Co of the South bought a new stake in shares of First Financial Bancorp. during the second quarter valued at approximately $3,952,000. Bank of America Corp DE raised its stake in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 29.7% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,236,781 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $34,481,000 after purchasing an additional 283,306 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Edgestream Partners L.P. lifted its position in First Financial Bancorp. by 8.0% in the first quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 333,019 shares of the bank’s stock worth $9,285,000 after purchasing an additional 24,654 shares during the period. 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.