First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) has earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eight ratings firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $30.50.

FFBC has been the subject of several recent research reports. Weiss Ratings raised First Financial Bancorp. from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Monday, January 26th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of First Financial Bancorp. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 13th. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $28.00 price objective (down previously from $30.00) on shares of First Financial Bancorp. in a report on Monday, October 27th. Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of First Financial Bancorp. from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Finally, Hovde Group upped their target price on shares of First Financial Bancorp. from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Richard S. Dennen sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.20, for a total value of $604,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 61,856 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,868,051.20. This represents a 24.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Archie M. Brown sold 11,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.80, for a total transaction of $308,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 229,391 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,147,678.80. The trade was a 4.77% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders sold 44,821 shares of company stock worth $1,273,992. 1.13% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in First Financial Bancorp. by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,929,185 shares of the bank’s stock worth $273,448,000 after purchasing an additional 215,357 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,374,365 shares of the bank’s stock worth $59,415,000 after buying an additional 22,389 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its holdings in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 12.4% in the third quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 945,401 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $23,871,000 after buying an additional 104,550 shares during the period. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 22.7% in the second quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 786,319 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $19,076,000 after buying an additional 145,575 shares during the period. Finally, Bridgeway Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in First Financial Bancorp. by 4.6% during the third quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 739,666 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $18,677,000 after buying an additional 32,822 shares in the last quarter. 77.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

First Financial Bancorp. Stock Up 0.8%

FFBC stock opened at $31.16 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $3.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.71 and a beta of 1.00. First Financial Bancorp. has a 1-year low of $21.10 and a 1-year high of $31.36. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $26.74 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $25.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.89.

First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The bank reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $251.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $249.00 million. First Financial Bancorp. had a net margin of 20.30% and a return on equity of 10.77%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.71 EPS. Research analysts predict that First Financial Bancorp. will post 2.64 EPS for the current year.

First Financial Bancorp. Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Investors of record on Monday, March 2nd will be given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 2nd. First Financial Bancorp.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 37.59%.

About First Financial Bancorp.

First Financial Bancorp (NASDAQ: FFBC) is a bank holding company headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, and the parent of First Financial Bank. The company provides a comprehensive suite of commercial and consumer banking services through a network of more than 100 full-service banking centers and mortgage offices across Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky. Its core mission centers on delivering personalized relationship banking to businesses, individuals and public sector clients.

First Financial Bank’s product portfolio includes deposit solutions such as checking, savings and money market accounts, alongside a range of lending offerings that cover commercial and industrial loans, real estate and construction financing, home mortgages and home equity lines of credit.