First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) to Issue $0.25 Quarterly Dividend

First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, January 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 2nd will be given a dividend of 0.25 per share by the bank on Monday, March 16th. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 2nd.

First Financial Bancorp. has raised its dividend by an average of 0.0%annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 1 years. First Financial Bancorp. has a dividend payout ratio of 36.2% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect First Financial Bancorp. to earn $2.77 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 36.1%.

First Financial Bancorp. Trading Up 1.2%

Shares of NASDAQ:FFBC traded up $0.32 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $27.52. The stock had a trading volume of 666,585 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,106,784. First Financial Bancorp. has a 12-month low of $21.10 and a 12-month high of $29.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 0.89. The company has a market cap of $2.71 billion, a PE ratio of 10.19 and a beta of 0.99. The company’s 50 day moving average is $25.93 and its 200-day moving average is $25.30.

First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The bank reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.02. First Financial Bancorp. had a return on equity of 10.72% and a net margin of 20.64%.The company had revenue of $251.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $249.00 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.71 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that First Financial Bancorp. will post 2.64 EPS for the current year.

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.