First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) CFO James Anderson Sells 4,263 Shares

First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) CFO James Anderson sold 4,263 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.00, for a total transaction of $127,890.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 118,537 shares in the company, valued at $3,556,110. The trade was a 3.47% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link.

First Financial Bancorp. Stock Performance

NASDAQ FFBC traded up $0.43 on Thursday, reaching $30.34. 225,993 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 950,780. First Financial Bancorp. has a fifty-two week low of $22.85 and a fifty-two week high of $31.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 0.84. The firm has a market cap of $3.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.72 and a beta of 0.94. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $28.43 and a 200-day moving average price of $26.87.

First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The bank reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $251.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $249.00 million. First Financial Bancorp. had a return on equity of 11.09% and a net margin of 20.92%.During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.71 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that First Financial Bancorp. will post 3.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First Financial Bancorp. Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 1st. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.3%. First Financial Bancorp.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.34%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on FFBC shares. Hovde Group increased their price target on shares of First Financial Bancorp. from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of First Financial Bancorp. from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Weiss Ratings upgraded First Financial Bancorp. from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Monday, January 26th. Truist Financial lifted their price target on First Financial Bancorp. from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $34.00 price target on shares of First Financial Bancorp. in a report on Monday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, First Financial Bancorp. has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $33.00.

Institutional Trading of First Financial Bancorp.

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Stifel Financial Corp raised its stake in First Financial Bancorp. by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 26,260 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $657,000 after purchasing an additional 389 shares during the last quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC grew its holdings in First Financial Bancorp. by 14.2% in the 4th quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 3,309 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $83,000 after buying an additional 412 shares in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 19.4% in the 3rd quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,903 shares of the bank’s stock worth $74,000 after acquiring an additional 472 shares during the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System increased its stake in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 28,308 shares of the bank’s stock worth $715,000 after acquiring an additional 481 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hantz Financial Services Inc. raised its holdings in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 38.7% during the 4th quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 1,743 shares of the bank’s stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 486 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.23% of the company’s stock.

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.