Royal Bank of Canada Acquires 42,368 Shares of First Financial Bancorp. $FFBC

Royal Bank of Canada boosted its holdings in First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) by 44.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 137,364 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 42,368 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada owned about 0.13% of First Financial Bancorp. worth $3,830,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have issued reports on FFBC. Raymond James Financial raised their target price on First Financial Bancorp. from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. Wall Street Zen downgraded First Financial Bancorp. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on shares of First Financial Bancorp. from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of First Financial Bancorp. in a research note on Monday, June 8th. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of First Financial Bancorp. from $33.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, July 10th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $33.67.

Insider Activity at First Financial Bancorp.

In other news, CEO Archie M. Brown sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.93, for a total transaction of $309,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer 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 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. Also, insider Scott T. Crawley sold 2,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owned 22,711 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $775,807.76. This represents a 10.63% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 17,440 shares of company stock valued at $559,318. Corporate insiders own 1.08% of the company’s stock.

First Financial Bancorp. Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of NASDAQ FFBC opened at $34.38 on Friday. First Financial Bancorp. has a 52 week low of $23.06 and a 52 week high of $36.24. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $33.61 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $30.73. 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 company has a market cap of $3.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.15 and a beta of 0.92.

First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 21st. The bank reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $270.29 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.74 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that First Financial Bancorp. will post 3.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

First Financial Bancorp. Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 1st will be given a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.0%. This is an increase from First Financial Bancorp.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 1st. First Financial Bancorp.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.34%.

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.