First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) Issues Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.06 EPS

First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) announced its earnings results on Thursday. The bank reported $0.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.65 by $0.06, Zacks reports. First Financial Bancorp. had a return on equity of 10.32% and a net margin of 18.55%.

First Financial Bancorp. Stock Up 0.1 %

FFBC opened at $27.99 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $28.07 and a 200-day moving average of $26.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.06 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. First Financial Bancorp. has a 1-year low of $20.59 and a 1-year high of $31.18.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently issued reports on FFBC shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of First Financial Bancorp. from $28.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Stephens upgraded shares of First Financial Bancorp. from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider James R. Shank sold 3,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.34, for a total transaction of $97,458.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 15,374 shares in the company, valued at approximately $404,951.16. The trade was a 19.40 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Richard S. Dennen sold 4,068 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.01, for a total transaction of $122,080.68. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 70,652 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,120,266.52. The trade was a 5.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 11,700 shares of company stock valued at $335,429. 2.04% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

First Financial Bancorp. Company 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.