First Financial Bancorp. $FFBC Holdings Lifted by Legacy Financial Advisors Inc.

Legacy Financial Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) by 235.3% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 45,933 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 32,235 shares during the period. Legacy Financial Advisors Inc.’s holdings in First Financial Bancorp. were worth $1,554,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. First Trust Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 557.5% during the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 2,042,913 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $56,956,000 after purchasing an additional 1,732,223 shares during the period. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. acquired a new position in First Financial Bancorp. during the 1st quarter valued at about $34,058,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new position in First Financial Bancorp. during the 2nd quarter valued at about $40,815,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 194.9% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,248,076 shares of the bank’s stock worth $31,227,000 after buying an additional 824,920 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 6.0% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,617,522 shares of the bank’s stock worth $184,493,000 after acquiring an additional 374,373 shares during the period. 77.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

First Financial Bancorp. Price Performance

FFBC stock opened at $32.63 on Tuesday. First Financial Bancorp. has a one year low of $23.06 and a one year high of $36.24. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $33.92 and a two-hundred day moving average of $31.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.43 billion, a PE ratio of 11.53 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 21st. The bank reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.02. First Financial Bancorp. had a net margin of 20.77% and a return on equity of 11.13%. The business had revenue of $264.17 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $270.29 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.74 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast 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. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 1st will be given a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.2%. This is a boost from First Financial Bancorp.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 1st. First Financial Bancorp.’s payout ratio is 36.75%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Thomas Murray Obrien sold 16,088 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.77, for a total transaction of $527,203.76. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 30,392 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $995,945.84. The trade was a 34.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Archie M. Brown sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.93, for a total value of $309,300.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 243,758 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,539,434.94. The trade was a 3.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 32,788 shares of company stock worth $1,063,656. 1.08% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on FFBC. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of First Financial Bancorp. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of First Financial Bancorp. in a research note on Monday, June 8th. Truist Financial raised their target price on First Financial Bancorp. from $33.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Finally, Raymond James Financial boosted their price target on shares of First Financial Bancorp. from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, First Financial Bancorp. presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $33.67.

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.