First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) Coverage Initiated by Analysts at Stephens

Stephens initiated coverage on shares of First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) in a research report report published on Friday, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm issued an overweight rating and a $33.00 price target on the bank’s stock.

FFBC has been the topic of several other research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted 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 report on Friday, January 30th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of First Financial Bancorp. from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Hovde Group lifted their price target on shares of First Financial Bancorp. from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of First Financial Bancorp. from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on shares of First Financial Bancorp. from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $31.17.

First Financial Bancorp. Trading Down 1.6%

Shares of First Financial Bancorp. stock opened at $27.25 on Friday. First Financial Bancorp. has a fifty-two week low of $21.10 and a fifty-two week high of $31.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 0.89. The company has a market capitalization of $2.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.24 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a fifty day moving average of $28.36 and a 200 day moving average of $26.31.

First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The bank reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $251.30 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $249.00 million. First Financial Bancorp. had a return on equity of 10.77% and a net margin of 20.30%.During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.71 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that First Financial Bancorp. will post 2.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

First Financial Bancorp. Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 2nd were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.7%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 2nd. First Financial Bancorp.’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.59%.

Insider Activity at First Financial Bancorp.

In related news, insider Gregory A. Harris sold 1,821 shares of the business’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 sale, the insider owned 42,431 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,248,744.33. The trade was a 4.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Richard S. Dennen sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.20, for a total transaction of $604,000.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 61,856 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,868,051.20. The trade was a 24.43% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 32,141 shares of company stock valued at $969,429. 1.13% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of First Financial Bancorp.

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in FFBC. CenterBook Partners LP bought a new stake in shares of First Financial Bancorp. in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $1,504,000. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. increased its position in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 47.7% during the 3rd quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 559,488 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $14,127,000 after purchasing an additional 180,575 shares during the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board raised its holdings in First Financial Bancorp. by 14.4% during the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 373,524 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $9,431,000 after buying an additional 47,142 shares during the period. Edgestream Partners L.P. purchased a new stake in First Financial Bancorp. during the 2nd quarter valued at $3,158,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in First Financial Bancorp. by 0.4% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,713,828 shares of the bank’s stock worth $270,524,000 after buying an additional 47,496 shares during the last quarter. 77.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.