New York State Teachers Retirement System Purchases 8,270 Shares of First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC)

New York State Teachers Retirement System grew its position in shares of First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) by 5.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 159,159 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,270 shares during the period. New York State Teachers Retirement System’s holdings in First Financial Bancorp. were worth $3,780,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in First Financial Bancorp. in the fourth quarter worth about $21,748,000. BlackRock Inc. raised its stake in First Financial Bancorp. by 3.1% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 13,933,810 shares of the bank’s stock worth $303,339,000 after buying an additional 423,327 shares in the last quarter. Fidelity National Financial Inc. bought a new position in First Financial Bancorp. in the first quarter worth about $4,354,000. State Street Corp raised its stake in First Financial Bancorp. by 4.5% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,138,615 shares of the bank’s stock worth $90,098,000 after buying an additional 178,038 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in First Financial Bancorp. by 1.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,495,128 shares of the bank’s stock worth $241,913,000 after buying an additional 147,057 shares in the last quarter. 77.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on FFBC shares. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $24.00 price target on shares of First Financial Bancorp. in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Piper Sandler started coverage on shares of First Financial Bancorp. in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $26.00 price target for the company.

First Financial Bancorp. Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ FFBC opened at $21.18 on Monday. First Financial Bancorp. has a fifty-two week low of $17.23 and a fifty-two week high of $24.99. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $21.81 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $21.52. The company has a market capitalization of $2.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.87 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.91.

First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The bank reported $0.62 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by $0.01. First Financial Bancorp. had a net margin of 22.94% and a return on equity of 12.16%. The business had revenue of $202.43 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $207.95 million. Analysts expect that First Financial Bancorp. will post 2.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First Financial Bancorp. Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 1st were paid a dividend of $0.23 per share. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.34%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 29th. First Financial Bancorp.’s dividend payout ratio is 34.20%.

First Financial Bancorp. Company 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 offers checking, savings, and money-market accounts; and accepts various deposit products, such as interest-bearing and non-interest-bearing accounts, time deposits, and cash management services for commercial customers.