Insider Selling: First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) Director Sells $527,203.76 in Stock

First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) Director Thomas Murray Obrien sold 16,088 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.77, for a total value of $527,203.76. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 30,392 shares in the company, valued at approximately $995,945.84. The trade was a 34.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

First Financial Bancorp. Stock Performance

Shares of First Financial Bancorp. stock opened at $32.82 on Monday. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $3.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.60 and a beta of 0.92. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $33.90 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $31.02. First Financial Bancorp. has a 12 month low of $23.06 and a 12 month high of $36.24.

First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 21st. The bank reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $264.17 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 revenue was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.74 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that First Financial Bancorp. will post 3.22 earnings per share 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. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 1st. This is an increase from First Financial Bancorp.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.2%. First Financial Bancorp.’s payout ratio is presently 35.34%.

Institutional Trading of First Financial Bancorp.

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al bought a new position in shares of First Financial Bancorp. in the second quarter worth approximately $2,085,000. California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its position in 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 acquiring an additional 3,982,149 shares in the last quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in First Financial Bancorp. in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $253,000. iSAM Funds UK Ltd purchased a new stake in First Financial Bancorp. during the 2nd quarter valued at $315,000. Finally, Nykredit A S bought a new stake in shares of First Financial Bancorp. in the 2nd quarter worth $55,000. 77.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FFBC has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of First Financial Bancorp. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Truist Financial upped their price target on First Financial Bancorp. from $33.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Raymond James Financial raised their price objective on First Financial Bancorp. from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of First Financial Bancorp. in a research note on Monday, June 8th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target 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.