First Financial Bancorp. $FFBC Shares Sold by Prudential Financial Inc.

Prudential Financial Inc. lowered its stake in shares of First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) by 7.6% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 410,086 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 33,490 shares during the period. Prudential Financial Inc. owned about 0.43% of First Financial Bancorp. worth $9,949,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. CWM LLC increased its holdings in First Financial Bancorp. by 24.4% in the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,201 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $55,000 after buying an additional 432 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its stake in First Financial Bancorp. by 13.5% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 10,413 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $260,000 after purchasing an additional 1,237 shares during the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its stake in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 43.8% in the first quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 36,408 shares of the bank’s stock worth $909,000 after buying an additional 11,098 shares in the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC boosted its holdings in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 2.2% during the 1st quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 69,414 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,734,000 after purchasing an additional 1,516 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of First Financial Bancorp. in the first quarter valued at approximately $78,000. 77.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. Hovde Group initiated coverage on First Financial Bancorp. in a research note on Monday, October 6th. They issued an “outperform” rating for the company. Raymond James Financial reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $28.00 target price (down previously from $30.00) on shares of First Financial Bancorp. in a research report on Monday, October 27th. Zacks Research cut shares of First Financial Bancorp. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 13th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of First Financial Bancorp. in a report on Monday. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of First Financial Bancorp. from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $29.50.

First Financial Bancorp. Stock Performance

Shares of FFBC opened at $24.89 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The firm has a market cap of $2.45 billion, a PE ratio of 9.22 and a beta of 1.03. First Financial Bancorp. has a 12-month low of $21.10 and a 12-month high of $30.36. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $24.60 and its 200-day simple moving average is $24.77.

First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The bank reported $0.76 EPS for the quarter. The business had revenue of $234.01 million during the quarter. First Financial Bancorp. had a net margin of 20.64% and a return on equity of 10.72%. As a group, equities analysts predict that First Financial Bancorp. will post 2.64 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 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 1st will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 1st. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.0%. First Financial Bancorp.’s dividend payout ratio is presently 37.04%.

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.