First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) Insider Sells $87,930.00 in Stock

First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) insider Scott T. Crawley sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.31, for a total value of $87,930.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 19,279 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $565,067.49. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link.

First Financial Bancorp. Trading Up 1.4 %

Shares of First Financial Bancorp. stock opened at $28.53 on Friday. First Financial Bancorp. has a 1 year low of $19.00 and a 1 year high of $29.77. The firm has a market cap of $2.72 billion, a PE ratio of 12.30 and a beta of 0.99. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $25.48 and a 200-day moving average price of $24.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.91.

First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The bank reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.66 by $0.01. First Financial Bancorp. had a return on equity of 10.32% and a net margin of 18.55%. The company had revenue of $302.82 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $214.00 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.67 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that First Financial Bancorp. will post 2.58 EPS for the current year.

First Financial Bancorp. Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd will be issued a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 2nd. First Financial Bancorp.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 41.38%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On First Financial Bancorp.

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FFBC. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its holdings in First Financial Bancorp. by 76.6% in the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 46,793 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,049,000 after acquiring an additional 20,299 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in First Financial Bancorp. by 23.9% in the 1st quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 305,942 shares of the bank’s stock worth $6,917,000 after purchasing an additional 58,963 shares during the period. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp boosted its stake in First Financial Bancorp. by 1.3% in the 1st quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 83,266 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,867,000 after purchasing an additional 1,094 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its stake in First Financial Bancorp. by 9.1% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 234,168 shares of the bank’s stock worth $5,250,000 after purchasing an additional 19,596 shares during the period. Finally, Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund boosted its stake in First Financial Bancorp. by 3.4% in the 1st quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 53,320 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,195,000 after purchasing an additional 1,768 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.23% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FFBC has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on First Financial Bancorp. from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on First Financial Bancorp. from $25.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th.

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.