First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) Holdings Raised by LPL Financial LLC

LPL Financial LLC lifted its stake in shares of First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) by 6.3% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 36,229 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,150 shares during the quarter. LPL Financial LLC’s holdings in First Financial Bancorp. were worth $741,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 1.6% during the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 40,619 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $884,000 after purchasing an additional 646 shares in the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its stake in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 179.6% during the first quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 6,598 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $144,000 after purchasing an additional 4,238 shares in the last quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC raised its stake in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 64.5% during the first quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC now owns 35,698 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $777,000 after purchasing an additional 14,000 shares in the last quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY raised its stake in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 80.1% during the first quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY now owns 17,883 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $389,000 after purchasing an additional 7,951 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Truist Financial Corp raised its position in First Financial Bancorp. by 9.2% in the first quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 16,172 shares of the bank’s stock worth $352,000 after acquiring an additional 1,365 shares in the last quarter. 75.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

First Financial Bancorp. Price Performance

NASDAQ FFBC opened at $20.75 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $19.55 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $20.57. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The company has a market cap of $1.97 billion, a PE ratio of 7.36 and a beta of 1.08. First Financial Bancorp. has a 1 year low of $17.23 and a 1 year high of $26.72.

First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 25th. The bank reported $0.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.67. The firm had revenue of $288.72 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $209.25 million. First Financial Bancorp. had a return on equity of 12.99% and a net margin of 24.93%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.61 EPS. On average, analysts predict that First Financial Bancorp. will post 2.75 EPS for the current year.

First Financial Bancorp. Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.23 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 30th. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.43%. First Financial Bancorp.’s payout ratio is presently 32.62%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on shares of First Financial Bancorp. from $22.00 to $21.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 26th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of First Financial Bancorp. in a research report on Thursday, October 5th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $23.00.

First Financial Bancorp. 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 accepts various deposit products, such as interest-bearing and noninterest-bearing accounts, time deposits, and cash management services for commercial customers.