First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) Coverage Initiated by Analysts at Hovde Group

Hovde Group assumed coverage on shares of First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) in a research note published on Monday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The brokerage issued an outperform rating on the bank’s stock.

FFBC has been the subject of a number of other reports. Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $29.00 target price on shares of First Financial Bancorp. in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Wall Street Zen raised First Financial Bancorp. from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, July 20th. Truist Financial raised their target price on First Financial Bancorp. from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of First Financial Bancorp. in a research report on Saturday, September 27th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $28.00 price target (up previously from $27.00) on shares of First Financial Bancorp. in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $29.80.

First Financial Bancorp. Trading Down 0.2%

NASDAQ FFBC opened at $26.01 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.40 and a beta of 0.96. First Financial Bancorp. has a one year low of $21.10 and a one year high of $31.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.90. The business’s fifty day moving average is $25.48 and its 200-day moving average is $24.58.

First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The bank reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 company 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 business earned $0.64 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that First Financial Bancorp. will post 2.64 EPS for the current year.

First Financial Bancorp. Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 2nd were issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was 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 3.8%. First Financial Bancorp.’s payout ratio is currently 40.00%.

Insider Activity at First Financial Bancorp.

In other First Financial Bancorp. news, Director Thomas Murray Obrien sold 7,383 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.54, for a total value of $195,944.82. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 46,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,233,579.20. This trade represents a 13.71% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Archie M. Brown sold 12,500 shares of the business’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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 240,891 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,971,687.89. This trade represents a 4.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.13% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On First Financial Bancorp.

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FFBC. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 43.9% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,522 shares of the bank’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 464 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC lifted its holdings in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 24.4% during the 1st quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,201 shares of the bank’s stock worth $55,000 after acquiring an additional 432 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP grew its position in First Financial Bancorp. by 75.4% in the second quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 3,102 shares of the bank’s stock worth $75,000 after acquiring an additional 1,333 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. bought a new position in First Financial Bancorp. in the first quarter valued at $78,000. Finally, TD Private Client Wealth LLC increased its stake in First Financial Bancorp. by 36.5% in the first quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 3,570 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $89,000 after acquiring an additional 954 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 77.23% of the company’s stock.

About First Financial Bancorp.

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.