Vanguard Group Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in First Financial Bancorp. $FFBC

Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,713,828 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 47,496 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 11.19% of First Financial Bancorp. worth $270,524,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of FFBC. CWM LLC raised its position in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 21.3% during the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,670 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $65,000 after buying an additional 469 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its position in First Financial Bancorp. by 19.4% in the third 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 period. Arizona State Retirement System increased its stake in First Financial Bancorp. by 1.7% during the third 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. Amalgamated Bank raised its position in First Financial Bancorp. by 1.8% in the third quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 27,784 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $702,000 after purchasing an additional 493 shares during the period. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its stake in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 15.8% in the 3rd quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 4,125 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $107,000 after purchasing an additional 564 shares during the last quarter. 77.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Gregory A. Harris sold 1,821 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.43, for a total value of $53,592.03. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 42,431 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,248,744.33. This trade represents a 4.12% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Archie M. Brown sold 11,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.80, for a total transaction of $308,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 229,391 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,147,678.80. This trade represents a 4.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 54,821 shares of company stock valued at $1,576,792 in the last quarter. 1.13% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on FFBC. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of First Financial Bancorp. from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Hovde Group upped their price target on First Financial Bancorp. from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on First Financial Bancorp. from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on First Financial Bancorp. from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised First Financial Bancorp. from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $30.50.

First Financial Bancorp. Trading Down 4.5%

FFBC opened at $28.07 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 0.89. First Financial Bancorp. has a one year low of $21.10 and a one year high of $31.38. The company has a market cap of $2.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.55 and a beta of 1.00. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $27.73 and its 200-day simple moving average is $26.13.

First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 28th. The bank reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $251.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $249.00 million. First Financial Bancorp. had a net margin of 20.30% and a return on equity of 10.77%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.71 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that First Financial Bancorp. will post 2.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First Financial Bancorp. Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Investors of record on Monday, March 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 2nd. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.6%. First Financial Bancorp.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 37.59%.

First Financial Bancorp. Company 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.