First Financial Bancorp. $FFBC Shares Purchased by Squarepoint Ops LLC

Squarepoint Ops LLC grew its stake in shares of First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) by 208.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 33,666 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 22,748 shares during the period. Squarepoint Ops LLC’s holdings in First Financial Bancorp. were worth $817,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of FFBC. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 46.6% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,231 shares of the bank’s stock worth $54,000 after purchasing an additional 709 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC lifted its holdings in First Financial Bancorp. by 21.3% during the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,670 shares of the bank’s stock worth $65,000 after buying an additional 469 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP lifted its holdings in First Financial Bancorp. by 75.4% during the 2nd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 3,102 shares of the bank’s stock worth $75,000 after buying an additional 1,333 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP grew its position in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 94.3% in the 1st quarter. Quarry LP now owns 4,861 shares of the bank’s stock worth $121,000 after acquiring an additional 2,359 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 26.4% in the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 6,499 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $158,000 after acquiring an additional 1,358 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.23% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have weighed in on FFBC shares. Hovde Group assumed coverage on shares of First Financial Bancorp. in a research note on Monday, October 6th. They set an “outperform” rating for the company. Zacks Research downgraded shares of First Financial Bancorp. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 13th. Raymond James Financial reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $28.00 target price (down previously from $30.00) on shares of First Financial Bancorp. in a report on Monday, October 27th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of First Financial Bancorp. in a research note on Monday, December 15th. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price target on First Financial Bancorp. from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, October 3rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $29.50.

Insider Transactions at First Financial Bancorp.

In other news, CEO Archie M. Brown sold 11,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.80, for a total value of $308,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 229,391 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,147,678.80. This represents a 4.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 1.13% of the company’s stock.

First Financial Bancorp. Price Performance

NASDAQ FFBC opened at $26.11 on Tuesday. First Financial Bancorp. has a 52 week low of $21.10 and a 52 week high of $29.21. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The stock has a market cap of $2.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.67 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $24.80 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $24.99.

First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The bank reported $0.76 earnings per share for the quarter. The company had revenue of $234.01 million for the quarter. First Financial Bancorp. had a return on equity of 10.72% and a net margin of 20.64%. Analysts forecast that First Financial Bancorp. will post 2.64 EPS for the current year.

First Financial Bancorp. Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 1st were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 1st. First Financial Bancorp.’s payout ratio is 37.04%.

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.