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

First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) has been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eight brokerages that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $33.6667.

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on FFBC shares. Wall Street Zen cut shares of First Financial Bancorp. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on shares of First Financial Bancorp. from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Raymond James Financial raised their target price on shares of First Financial Bancorp. from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of First Financial Bancorp. from $33.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of First Financial Bancorp. in a research note on Monday, June 8th.

First Financial Bancorp. Stock Performance

Shares of FFBC stock opened at $33.61 on Tuesday. First Financial Bancorp. has a 12-month low of $23.06 and a 12-month high of $36.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.88 and a beta of 0.92. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $33.31 and a 200 day simple moving average of $30.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.85.

First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 21st. The bank reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.02. First Financial Bancorp. had a return on equity of 11.13% and a net margin of 20.77%.The firm had revenue of $264.17 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $270.29 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.74 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that First Financial Bancorp. will post 3.22 EPS for the current year.

First Financial Bancorp. Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 1st. This is a positive change from First Financial Bancorp.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.1%. First Financial Bancorp.’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.75%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Scott T. Crawley sold 2,700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.16, for a total transaction of $92,232.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 22,711 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $775,807.76. This trade represents a 10.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO James M. Anderson sold 4,000 shares of First Financial Bancorp. stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.73, for a total value of $134,920.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 114,537 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,863,333.01. The trade was a 3.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 17,440 shares of company stock worth $559,318 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 1.08% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On First Financial Bancorp.

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in First Financial Bancorp. by 55.0% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 97,727 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,441,000 after purchasing an additional 34,676 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its position in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 4.6% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 56,205 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,404,000 after purchasing an additional 2,458 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 3.9% during the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 589,799 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $14,733,000 after buying an additional 22,227 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its position in First Financial Bancorp. by 571.4% during the first quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 7,412 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $185,000 after purchasing an additional 6,308 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its position in First Financial Bancorp. by 6.0% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 318,298 shares of the bank’s stock worth $7,951,000 after purchasing an additional 17,911 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.23% of the company’s stock.

First Financial Bancorp. Company Profile

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.