First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) Reaches New 12-Month High Following Analyst Upgrade

First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC)’s share price hit a new 52-week high on Monday after Truist Financial raised their price target on the stock from $29.00 to $30.00. Truist Financial currently has a hold rating on the stock. First Financial Bancorp. traded as high as $29.28 and last traded at $29.24, with a volume of 164305 shares. The stock had previously closed at $28.74.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings upgraded First Financial Bancorp. from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on First Financial Bancorp. from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday. Hovde Group raised their price objective on First Financial Bancorp. from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on First Financial Bancorp. from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of First Financial Bancorp. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 13th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $30.50.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Archie M. Brown sold 11,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.80, for a total value of $308,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 229,391 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,147,678.80. This represents a 4.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.13% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On First Financial Bancorp.

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Truist Financial Corp lifted its stake in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 48.3% in the fourth quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 14,210 shares of the bank’s stock worth $356,000 after acquiring an additional 4,625 shares during the period. Souders Financial Advisors lifted its position in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. Souders Financial Advisors now owns 75,485 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,889,000 after purchasing an additional 3,483 shares during the period. Strs Ohio raised its stake in First Financial Bancorp. by 27.0% during the fourth quarter. Strs Ohio now owns 33,900 shares of the bank’s stock worth $848,000 after buying an additional 7,200 shares during the last quarter. Horizon Investments LLC boosted its position in First Financial Bancorp. by 7.6% during the fourth quarter. Horizon Investments LLC now owns 23,214 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $581,000 after acquiring an additional 1,635 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D lifted its stake in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 9.9% in the 4th quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 91,625 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,292,000 after purchasing an additional 8,243 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.23% of the company’s stock.

First Financial Bancorp. Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.89. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $26.21 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $25.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.97 and a beta of 1.00.

First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 28th. The bank reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.02. First Financial Bancorp. had a net margin of 20.30% and a return on equity of 10.77%. The company had revenue of $251.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $249.00 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.71 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that First Financial Bancorp. will post 2.64 EPS for the current year.

First Financial Bancorp. Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 2nd. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.4%. First Financial Bancorp.’s dividend payout ratio 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.