Claude Davis Sells 26,123 Shares of First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) Stock

First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) insider Claude Davis sold 26,123 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.45, for a total value of $795,445.35. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 30,410 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $925,984.50. This trade represents a 46.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

First Financial Bancorp. Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ FFBC traded up $0.13 during trading on Friday, hitting $30.41. The company had a trading volume of 662,416 shares, compared to its average volume of 954,377. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.75 and a beta of 0.94. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $28.43 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $26.89. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. First Financial Bancorp. has a fifty-two week low of $22.93 and a fifty-two week high of $31.38.

First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The bank reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.02. First Financial Bancorp. had a return on equity of 11.09% and a net margin of 20.92%.The business had revenue of $251.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $249.00 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.71 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that First Financial Bancorp. will post 3.26 earnings per share for the current year.

First Financial Bancorp. Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 1st will be given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 1st. First Financial Bancorp.’s dividend payout ratio is 35.34%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in First Financial Bancorp. by 55.0% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 97,727 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,441,000 after purchasing an additional 34,676 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its holdings in First Financial Bancorp. by 4.6% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 56,205 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,404,000 after purchasing an additional 2,458 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC raised its holdings in First Financial Bancorp. by 3.9% during the first 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 in the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its position in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 571.4% during the 1st quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 7,412 shares of the bank’s stock worth $185,000 after buying an additional 6,308 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted 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 valued at $7,951,000 after buying an additional 17,911 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.23% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on FFBC shares. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of First Financial Bancorp. from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Monday, January 26th. Truist Financial raised their target price on First Financial Bancorp. from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on First Financial Bancorp. from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on shares of First Financial Bancorp. from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Stephens initiated coverage on shares of First Financial Bancorp. in a report on Friday, March 27th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $33.00 target price on the stock. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $33.00.

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.