Sei Investments Co. Buys 99,837 Shares of First Financial Bancorp. $FFBC

Sei Investments Co. lifted its stake in shares of First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) by 220.1% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 145,204 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 99,837 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co.’s holdings in First Financial Bancorp. were worth $4,048,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of FFBC. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in First Financial Bancorp. by 55.0% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 97,727 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,441,000 after purchasing an additional 34,676 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its stake in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 4.6% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 56,205 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,404,000 after buying an additional 2,458 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC raised its stake in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 3.9% in the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 589,799 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $14,733,000 after buying an additional 22,227 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its position in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 571.4% during the 1st quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 7,412 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $185,000 after buying an additional 6,308 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its position in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 6.0% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 318,298 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $7,951,000 after buying an additional 17,911 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 77.23% of the company’s stock.

First Financial Bancorp. Trading Down 1.8%

Shares of FFBC opened at $33.78 on Friday. First Financial Bancorp. has a twelve month low of $23.06 and a twelve month high of $36.24. The stock has a market cap of $3.54 billion, a PE ratio of 11.94 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $33.18 and its 200-day moving average price is $30.46.

First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 21st. The bank reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $264.17 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $270.29 million. First Financial Bancorp. had a net margin of 20.77% and a return on equity of 11.13%. First Financial Bancorp.’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.74 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that First Financial Bancorp. will post 3.22 EPS for the current fiscal 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 paid a $0.26 dividend. This is an increase from First Financial Bancorp.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 1st. First Financial Bancorp.’s payout ratio is 35.34%.

Insider Transactions at First Financial Bancorp.

In other news, CEO Archie M. Brown sold 10,000 shares of First Financial Bancorp. stock in a transaction on Monday, June 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.93, for a total transaction of $309,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 243,758 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,539,434.94. The trade was a 3.94% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Scott T. Crawley sold 2,700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.16, for a total transaction of $92,232.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 22,711 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $775,807.76. This trade represents a 10.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 17,440 shares of company stock valued at $559,318 in the last quarter. Insiders own 1.08% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on FFBC. Raymond James Financial lifted their price objective on First Financial Bancorp. from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of First Financial Bancorp. in a research 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 note on Monday, April 27th. Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of First Financial Bancorp. from $33.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of First Financial Bancorp. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $33.67.

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.