First Financial Bancorp. $FFBC Shares Sold by Denali Advisors LLC

Denali Advisors LLC lowered its stake in shares of First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) by 62.3% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 105,700 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 175,000 shares during the period. Denali Advisors LLC owned 0.10% of First Financial Bancorp. worth $3,576,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of FFBC. Waverly Advisors LLC grew its position in First Financial Bancorp. by 0.8% during the first quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC now owns 46,429 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,294,000 after acquiring an additional 376 shares during the period. Kestra Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in First Financial Bancorp. by 2.9% in the 1st quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC now owns 13,736 shares of the bank’s stock worth $383,000 after acquiring an additional 381 shares during the period. Stifel Financial Corp grew its holdings in First Financial Bancorp. by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 26,260 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $657,000 after purchasing an additional 389 shares in the last quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 14.2% during the fourth quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 3,309 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $83,000 after acquiring an additional 412 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hantz Financial Services Inc. grew its stake in First Financial Bancorp. by 38.7% during the 4th quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 1,743 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 486 shares in the last quarter. 77.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, 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 value of $92,232.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 22,711 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $775,807.76. The trade was a 10.63% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO James M. Anderson sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.73, for a total transaction of $134,920.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 114,537 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,863,333.01. This represents a 3.37% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 17,440 shares of company stock worth $559,318. Corporate insiders own 1.08% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Raymond James Financial lifted their price target on First Financial Bancorp. from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Truist Financial upped 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. Wall Street Zen lowered First Financial Bancorp. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on shares of First Financial Bancorp. from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of First Financial Bancorp. in a research report on Monday, June 8th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, First Financial Bancorp. presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $33.67.

First Financial Bancorp. Stock Performance

NASDAQ:FFBC opened at $32.91 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.45 billion, a PE ratio of 11.63 and a beta of 0.92. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $33.75 and its 200 day simple moving average is $30.88. First Financial Bancorp. has a 1 year low of $23.06 and a 1 year high of $36.24. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 21st. The bank reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.02. First Financial Bancorp. had a net margin of 20.77% and a return on equity of 11.13%. The firm had revenue of $264.17 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $270.29 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.74 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that First Financial Bancorp. will post 3.22 EPS for the current year.

First Financial Bancorp. Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 1st. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.2%. This is a positive change from First Financial Bancorp.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. First Financial Bancorp.’s payout ratio is presently 36.75%.

First Financial Bancorp. 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.