Insider Selling: First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) Insider Sells $92,232.00 in Stock

First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) insider Scott Crawley sold 2,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.16, for a total transaction of $92,232.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 22,711 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $775,807.76. This trade represents a 10.63% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink.

First Financial Bancorp. Stock Up 0.9%

FFBC traded up $0.31 during trading on Monday, hitting $34.14. The stock had a trading volume of 816,187 shares, compared to its average volume of 990,307. The company has a market capitalization of $3.58 billion, a PE ratio of 12.06 and a beta of 0.92. First Financial Bancorp. has a twelve month low of $23.06 and a twelve month high of $36.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.85. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $32.91 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $30.23.

First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 21st. The bank reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 business had revenue of $264.17 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $270.29 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.74 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that First Financial Bancorp. will post 3.22 earnings per share for the current year.

First Financial Bancorp. Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 1st will be given a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 1st. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.0%. This is an increase from First Financial Bancorp.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. First Financial Bancorp.’s dividend payout ratio is currently 35.34%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FFBC has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wall Street Zen downgraded First Financial Bancorp. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. Raymond James Financial upped their price objective on shares of First Financial Bancorp. from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective 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. Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of First Financial Bancorp. from $33.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of First Financial Bancorp. in a research report on Monday, June 8th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $33.67.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in First Financial Bancorp. by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,929,185 shares of the bank’s stock worth $273,448,000 after buying an additional 215,357 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in First Financial Bancorp. by 6.0% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,617,522 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $184,493,000 after acquiring an additional 374,373 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its stake in First Financial Bancorp. by 7.9% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,851,427 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $121,383,000 after acquiring an additional 354,833 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,374,365 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $59,415,000 after acquiring an additional 22,389 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 557.5% in the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 2,042,913 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $56,956,000 after acquiring an additional 1,732,223 shares during the last quarter. 77.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.