Blue Trust Inc. Has $158,000 Stock Position in First Financial Bancorp. $FFBC

Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in shares of First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) by 26.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 6,499 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,358 shares during the quarter. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in First Financial Bancorp. were worth $158,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 43.9% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,522 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 464 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC increased its holdings in First Financial Bancorp. by 24.4% during the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,201 shares of the bank’s stock worth $55,000 after buying an additional 432 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. bought a new position in First Financial Bancorp. during the first quarter worth $78,000. TD Private Client Wealth LLC boosted its position in shares of 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 period. Finally, Quarry LP boosted its position in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 94.3% in the first quarter. Quarry LP now owns 4,861 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $121,000 after acquiring an additional 2,359 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.23% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Raymond James Financial set a $30.00 target price on shares of First Financial Bancorp. and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. Truist Financial increased their target price on First Financial Bancorp. from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, October 3rd. Hovde Group assumed coverage on First Financial Bancorp. in a research note on Monday, October 6th. They set an “outperform” rating on the stock. Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $29.00 price objective on shares of First Financial Bancorp. in a report on Friday, June 27th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered First Financial Bancorp. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $29.83.

First Financial Bancorp. Trading Down 1.8%

Shares of NASDAQ:FFBC opened at $25.18 on Thursday. First Financial Bancorp. has a 1 year low of $21.10 and a 1 year high of $31.18. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $25.65 and its 200-day moving average price is $24.59. 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 company has a market cap of $2.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.07 and a beta of 0.96.

First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 15th. The bank reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter. First Financial Bancorp. had a return on equity of 10.57% and a net margin of 19.41%.The firm had revenue of $179.99 million for the quarter. Sell-side analysts expect that First Financial Bancorp. will post 2.64 earnings per share for the current year.

First Financial Bancorp. Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 2nd were given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.0%. 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. First Financial Bancorp.’s dividend payout ratio is presently 40.00%.

Insider Activity

In other First Financial Bancorp. news, CEO Archie M. Brown sold 12,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.79, for a total transaction of $309,875.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 240,891 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,971,687.89. The trade was a 4.93% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Thomas Murray Obrien sold 7,383 shares of First Financial Bancorp. stock in a transaction on Friday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.54, for a total transaction 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. The trade was a 13.71% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.13% of the company’s stock.

First Financial Bancorp. 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.