Denali Advisors LLC Sells 175,000 Shares of First Financial Bancorp. $FFBC

Denali Advisors LLC decreased its stake in First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) by 62.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 105,700 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 175,000 shares during the period. Denali Advisors LLC’s holdings in First Financial Bancorp. were worth $3,576,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 557.5% in the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 2,042,913 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $56,956,000 after buying an additional 1,732,223 shares during the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. bought a new stake in shares of First Financial Bancorp. in the first quarter valued at about $34,058,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in First Financial Bancorp. in the 2nd quarter valued at about $40,815,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 194.9% in the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,248,076 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $31,227,000 after buying an additional 824,920 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of 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 valued at $184,493,000 after acquiring an additional 374,373 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.23% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO James M. Anderson sold 4,000 shares of First Financial Bancorp. stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief financial officer owned 114,537 shares in the company, valued at $3,863,333.01. The trade was a 3.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Scott T. Crawley sold 2,700 shares of First Financial Bancorp. stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at $775,807.76. The trade was a 10.63% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 17,440 shares of company stock valued at $559,318. 1.08% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

First Financial Bancorp. Price Performance

First Financial Bancorp. stock opened at $32.91 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The company has a market cap of $3.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.63 and a beta of 0.92. First Financial Bancorp. has a 12 month low of $23.06 and a 12 month high of $36.24. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $33.75 and its 200 day simple moving average is $30.88.

First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 21st. The bank reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analysts’ expectations of $270.29 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.74 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that First Financial Bancorp. will post 3.22 EPS for the current year.

First Financial Bancorp. Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 1st. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.2%. This is a boost from First Financial Bancorp.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. First Financial Bancorp.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 36.75%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FFBC has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of First Financial Bancorp. in a report on Monday, June 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on shares of First Financial Bancorp. from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Wall Street Zen lowered First Financial Bancorp. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Raymond James Financial upped their price objective on shares of First Financial Bancorp. from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Finally, Truist Financial upped their target price 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. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, First Financial Bancorp. has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $33.67.

First Financial Bancorp. 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.