First Trust Advisors LP Sells 11,476 Shares of First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC)

First Trust Advisors LP lowered its stake in shares of First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC – Get Rating) by 2.5% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 444,194 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 11,476 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP owned 0.47% of First Financial Bancorp. worth $9,364,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Amalgamated Bank increased its stake in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 42,692 shares of the bank’s stock worth $900,000 after purchasing an additional 429 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 1.3% in the second quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 51,722 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,003,000 after buying an additional 658 shares during the last quarter. Inspire Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 6.5% during the 2nd quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 10,868 shares of the bank’s stock worth $211,000 after acquiring an additional 666 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp increased its holdings in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 5.5% during the 3rd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 13,333 shares of the bank’s stock worth $281,000 after acquiring an additional 700 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Souders Financial Advisors increased its holdings in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Souders Financial Advisors now owns 72,391 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,526,000 after acquiring an additional 814 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.35% of the company’s stock.

First Financial Bancorp. Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of First Financial Bancorp. stock opened at $22.15 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.89. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $24.65 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $24.08. First Financial Bancorp. has a 1 year low of $18.75 and a 1 year high of $26.72. The company has a market capitalization of $2.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.59 and a beta of 1.06.

First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC – Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Friday, January 27th. The bank reported $0.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.68 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $245.95 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $199.77 million. First Financial Bancorp. had a net margin of 28.09% and a return on equity of 10.74%. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.58 EPS. Research analysts forecast that First Financial Bancorp. will post 2.69 EPS for the current year.

First Financial Bancorp. Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 1st will be given a $0.23 dividend. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 28th. First Financial Bancorp.’s payout ratio is 39.83%.

Insider Transactions at First Financial Bancorp.

In other First Financial Bancorp. news, insider Claude E. Davis sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.55, for a total value of $638,750.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 75,906 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,939,398.30. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 2.11% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About First Financial Bancorp.

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First Financial Bancorp operates as a bank holding company. The firm operates through its wholly owned subsidiary, First Financial Bank, which engages in the provision of commercial banking, financial and other related activities. It operates through the following business lines: Commercial, Retail Banking, Mortgage Banking, Wealth Management, Investment Commercial Real Estate, and Commercial Finance.