Royal Bank of Canada Purchases 42,368 Shares of First Financial Bancorp. $FFBC

Royal Bank of Canada boosted its holdings in shares of First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) by 44.6% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 137,364 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 42,368 shares during the quarter. Royal Bank of Canada’s holdings in First Financial Bancorp. were worth $3,830,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Empowered Funds LLC increased its stake in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 5.5% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 436,804 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $12,178,000 after buying an additional 22,852 shares during the period. Quantinno Capital Management LP raised its holdings in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 20.8% during the first quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 40,742 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,136,000 after acquiring an additional 7,011 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in First Financial Bancorp. by 4.6% in the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 22,664 shares of the bank’s stock worth $632,000 after acquiring an additional 1,007 shares during the period. Waverly Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in First Financial Bancorp. by 0.8% in the first quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC now owns 46,429 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,294,000 after acquiring an additional 376 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC bought a new stake in First Financial Bancorp. in the first quarter valued at $7,592,000. Institutional investors own 77.23% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO James M. Anderson sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.73, for a total value of $134,920.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 114,537 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,863,333.01. This trade represents a 3.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Scott T. 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 transaction of $92,232.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 22,711 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $775,807.76. This represents a 10.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 17,440 shares of company stock valued at $559,318. 1.08% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on FFBC. Wall Street Zen cut shares of First Financial Bancorp. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Raymond James Financial raised their price objective 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. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on First Financial Bancorp. from $33.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on First Financial Bancorp. from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of First Financial Bancorp. in a research report on Monday, June 8th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $33.67.

First Financial Bancorp. Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of NASDAQ FFBC opened at $34.38 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $33.61 and its 200-day moving average price is $30.73. First Financial Bancorp. has a 52-week low of $23.06 and a 52-week high of $36.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.85. The company has a market cap of $3.61 billion, a PE ratio of 12.15 and a beta of 0.92.

First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 21st. 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 11.13% and a net margin of 20.77%.The company had revenue of $264.17 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $270.29 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.74 EPS. First Financial Bancorp.’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that First Financial Bancorp. will post 3.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First Financial Bancorp. Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 1st will be paid a $0.26 dividend. This is a boost from First Financial Bancorp.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 1st. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.0%. First Financial Bancorp.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 35.34%.

About First Financial Bancorp.

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.