First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) Upgraded to Buy at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note published on Saturday morning.

Several other research firms also recently weighed in on FFBC. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of First Financial Bancorp. from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and set a $34.00 price objective on shares of First Financial Bancorp. in a report on Monday, April 27th. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of First Financial Bancorp. from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of First Financial Bancorp. from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Monday, January 26th. Finally, Stephens started coverage on shares of First Financial Bancorp. in a report on Friday, March 27th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $33.00 price objective on the stock. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $33.00.

First Financial Bancorp. Stock Performance

FFBC opened at $29.66 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $28.68 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $27.27. First Financial Bancorp. has a 1-year low of $22.93 and a 1-year high of $31.38. The company has a market cap of $3.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.48 and a beta of 0.94.

First Financial Bancorp. Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 1st will be paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 1st. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.4%. First Financial Bancorp.’s dividend payout ratio is presently 35.34%.

Insider Buying and Selling at First Financial Bancorp.

In other news, insider Claude E. Davis sold 26,123 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 in the company, valued at $925,984.50. This represents a 46.21% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO James M. Anderson sold 4,263 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.00, for a total transaction of $127,890.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 118,537 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,556,110. The trade was a 3.47% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders sold 30,706 shares of company stock valued at $932,372. Company insiders own 1.13% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of First Financial Bancorp.

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in First Financial Bancorp. by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,929,185 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $273,448,000 after buying an additional 215,357 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in First Financial Bancorp. by 6.0% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,617,522 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $184,493,000 after buying an additional 374,373 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its position in First Financial Bancorp. by 7.9% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,851,427 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $121,383,000 after buying an additional 354,833 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in First Financial Bancorp. by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,374,365 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $59,415,000 after buying an additional 22,389 shares during the period. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP grew its position in First Financial Bancorp. by 557.5% during the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 2,042,913 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $56,956,000 after buying an additional 1,732,223 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 77.23% of the company’s stock.

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.