Archie Brown Sells 5,000 Shares of First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) Stock

First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) CEO Archie Brown sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.93, for a total transaction of $164,650.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 238,758 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,862,300.94. The trade was a 2.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link.

First Financial Bancorp. Price Performance

FFBC stock opened at $32.98 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $3.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.65 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $33.87 and a 200 day simple moving average of $31.09. First Financial Bancorp. has a 1 year low of $23.06 and a 1 year high of $36.24.

First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 21st. The bank reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $264.17 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $270.29 million. First Financial Bancorp. had a net margin of 20.77% and a return on equity of 11.13%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.74 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that First Financial Bancorp. will post 3.22 EPS 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 paid a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 1st. This is a positive change from First Financial Bancorp.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. First Financial Bancorp.’s dividend payout ratio is currently 36.75%.

Institutional Trading of First Financial Bancorp.

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in First Financial Bancorp. by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,929,185 shares of the bank’s stock worth $273,448,000 after buying an additional 215,357 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in First Financial Bancorp. by 6.0% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,617,522 shares of the bank’s stock worth $184,493,000 after acquiring an additional 374,373 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 7.9% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,851,427 shares of the bank’s stock worth $121,383,000 after acquiring an additional 354,833 shares in the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its stake in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 3,187.9% in the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 4,107,063 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $138,942,000 after purchasing an additional 3,982,149 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,374,365 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $59,415,000 after purchasing an additional 22,389 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.23% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Raymond James Financial upped their target price on 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 target on First Financial Bancorp. from $33.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of First Financial Bancorp. in a report on Monday, June 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded First Financial Bancorp. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $33.67.

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.