Cetera Investment Advisers Raises Stock Position in First Financial Bancorp. $FFBC

Cetera Investment Advisers increased its stake in First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) by 13.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,413 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,237 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers’ holdings in First Financial Bancorp. were worth $260,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in First Financial Bancorp. by 16.2% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,362,436 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $36,622,000 after acquiring an additional 189,715 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its stake in First Financial Bancorp. by 38.3% during the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,186,286 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $31,887,000 after acquiring an additional 328,788 shares during the period. First Financial Bank Trust Division lifted its stake in First Financial Bancorp. by 2.8% during the 1st quarter. First Financial Bank Trust Division now owns 893,713 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $22,325,000 after acquiring an additional 24,690 shares during the period. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in First Financial Bancorp. by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 677,283 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $18,205,000 after acquiring an additional 20,701 shares during the period. Finally, Nuveen Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in First Financial Bancorp. by 65.2% during the 4th quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 669,409 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $17,994,000 after acquiring an additional 264,083 shares during the period. 77.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Archie M. Brown sold 12,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.79, for a total transaction of $309,875.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 240,891 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,971,687.89. This represents a 4.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.13% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and set a $29.00 price objective on shares of First Financial Bancorp. in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Truist Financial assumed coverage on shares of First Financial Bancorp. in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. They set a “hold” rating and a $27.00 price objective for the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of First Financial Bancorp. from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 25th. Hovde Group assumed coverage on shares of First Financial Bancorp. in a research note on Tuesday. They set an “outperform” rating and a $31.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $28.00 target price (up from $27.00) on shares of First Financial Bancorp. in a report on Monday, July 28th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $29.40.

First Financial Bancorp. Price Performance

First Financial Bancorp. stock opened at $25.42 on Thursday. First Financial Bancorp. has a 52-week low of $21.10 and a 52-week high of $31.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.17 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $24.51 and a 200-day simple moving average of $24.75. The company has a quick ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40.

First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The bank reported $0.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.05. First Financial Bancorp. had a net margin of 19.41% and a return on equity of 10.57%. The business had revenue of $226.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $219.95 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.64 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that First Financial Bancorp. will post 2.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First Financial Bancorp. Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 2nd. This is a positive change from First Financial Bancorp.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.9%. First Financial Bancorp.’s payout ratio is currently 38.40%.

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 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.