Thomas Murray Obrien Sells 16,088 Shares of First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) Stock

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

First Financial Bancorp. Price Performance

Shares of First Financial Bancorp. stock opened at $32.82 on Friday. 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 fifty day simple moving average of $33.90 and a 200-day simple moving average of $31.02. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.60 and a beta of 0.92. First Financial Bancorp. has a 1-year low of $23.06 and a 1-year high of $36.24.

First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 21st. The bank reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $264.17 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.74 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that First Financial Bancorp. will post 3.22 earnings per share for the current year.

First Financial Bancorp. Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 1st will be paid a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 1st. This is a boost from First Financial Bancorp.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.2%. First Financial Bancorp.’s dividend payout ratio is presently 35.34%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on FFBC. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of First Financial Bancorp. in a report on Monday, June 8th. 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. Raymond James Financial upped their target price on shares of First Financial Bancorp. from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of First Financial Bancorp. from $33.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $33.67.

Institutional Trading of First Financial Bancorp.

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of FFBC. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of First Financial Bancorp. in the 4th quarter valued at $936,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,309,205 shares of the bank’s stock worth $32,756,000 after acquiring an additional 42,116 shares during the period. California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its position in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 38.1% during the 1st quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 124,914 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $3,483,000 after acquiring an additional 34,441 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,929,185 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $273,448,000 after acquiring an additional 215,357 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC increased its stake in First Financial Bancorp. by 114.5% in the fourth quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 84,595 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,117,000 after acquiring an additional 45,149 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.23% of the company’s stock.

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.