Brokerages Set First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) PT at $29.50

Shares of First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) have received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eight research firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $29.50.

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on FFBC shares. Zacks Research lowered shares of First Financial Bancorp. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 13th. Hovde Group began coverage on First Financial Bancorp. in a research note on Monday, October 6th. They issued an “outperform” rating for the company. Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $28.00 price target (down from $30.00) on shares of First Financial Bancorp. in a report on Monday, October 27th. Weiss Ratings raised First Financial Bancorp. from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their price objective on First Financial Bancorp. from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 3rd.

First Financial Bancorp. Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:FFBC opened at $25.58 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $24.56 and its 200 day simple moving average is $24.77. First Financial Bancorp. has a fifty-two week low of $21.10 and a fifty-two week high of $30.36. The company has a market capitalization of $2.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.47 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.89.

First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 4th. The bank reported $0.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $234.01 million during the quarter. First Financial Bancorp. had a net margin of 20.64% and a return on equity of 10.72%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that First Financial Bancorp. will post 2.64 earnings per share for the current year.

First Financial Bancorp. Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 1st will be issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 1st. First Financial Bancorp.’s dividend payout ratio is 37.04%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On First Financial Bancorp.

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in FFBC. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. acquired a new position in First Financial Bancorp. in the 3rd quarter worth $257,000. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co raised its stake in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 102,243 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,603,000 after purchasing an additional 3,235 shares during the period. Caxton Associates LLP bought a new stake in shares of First Financial Bancorp. in the third quarter valued at about $226,000. Numerai GP LLC acquired a new position in shares of First Financial Bancorp. during the third quarter worth about $265,000. Finally, Mariner LLC grew its holdings in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 2.5% during the third quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 56,009 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,414,000 after buying an additional 1,381 shares in the last quarter. 77.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

First Financial Bancorp. Company Profile

First Financial Bancorp. operates as the bank holding company for First Financial Bank that provides commercial banking and related services to individuals and businesses in Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, and Illinois. The company offers checking, savings, and money-market accounts; and accepts various deposit products, such as interest-bearing and non-interest-bearing accounts, time deposits, and cash management services for commercial customers.