Citigroup Inc. Cuts Position in First Financial Bancorp. $FFBC

Citigroup Inc. decreased its position in First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) by 41.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 76,649 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 54,665 shares during the quarter. Citigroup Inc. owned 0.08% of First Financial Bancorp. worth $1,935,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. First Horizon Corp purchased a new stake in shares of First Financial Bancorp. in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Bogart Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of First Financial Bancorp. during the 3rd quarter worth $25,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 2,741.3% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,790 shares of the bank’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 1,727 shares in the last quarter. Financial Consulate Inc. purchased a new position in First Financial Bancorp. in the third quarter valued at $47,000. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in First Financial Bancorp. by 19.4% in the third quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,903 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $74,000 after buying an additional 472 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.23% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on FFBC. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on First Financial Bancorp. from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Weiss Ratings raised First Financial Bancorp. from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Monday, January 26th. Hovde Group increased their price objective on First Financial Bancorp. from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. Truist Financial raised their target price on First Financial Bancorp. from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on First Financial Bancorp. from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $30.50.

First Financial Bancorp. Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:FFBC opened at $27.25 on Monday. First Financial Bancorp. has a 12 month low of $21.10 and a 12 month high of $31.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.24 and a beta of 0.97. 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 company’s fifty day moving average price is $27.93 and its 200 day moving average price is $26.24.

First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 28th. The bank reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $251.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.71 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that First Financial Bancorp. will post 2.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

First Financial Bancorp. Announces Dividend

The company 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 2nd. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.7%. First Financial Bancorp.’s dividend payout ratio is 37.59%.

Insider Transactions at First Financial Bancorp.

In other news, CEO Archie M. Brown sold 11,500 shares of the 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 sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 229,391 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,147,678.80. This represents a 4.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Richard S. Dennen sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.20, for a total transaction of $604,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 61,856 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,868,051.20. This trade represents a 24.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 55,141 shares of company stock valued at $1,585,829 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 1.13% of the company’s stock.

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.