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 stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.16, for a total value of $92,232.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 22,711 shares in the company, valued at $775,807.76. This represents a 10.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

First Financial Bancorp. Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ FFBC traded up $0.31 during trading on Monday, reaching $34.14. 816,187 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 990,307. The stock has a market cap of $3.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.06 and a beta of 0.92. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $32.91 and its 200 day simple moving average is $30.23. 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. has a 12-month low of $23.06 and a 12-month high of $36.24.

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

First Financial Bancorp. Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 1st will be issued a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 1st. This is a boost from First Financial Bancorp.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.0%. First Financial Bancorp.’s dividend payout ratio is presently 35.34%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of First Financial Bancorp. from $33.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, July 10th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on shares of First Financial Bancorp. from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of First Financial Bancorp. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of First Financial Bancorp. in a report on Monday, June 8th. Finally, Raymond James Financial upped their price objective 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 research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $33.67.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On First Financial Bancorp.

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Waverly Advisors LLC increased its holdings in First Financial Bancorp. by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC now owns 46,429 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,294,000 after acquiring an additional 376 shares in the last quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in First Financial Bancorp. by 2.9% during the first quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC now owns 13,736 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $383,000 after purchasing an additional 381 shares in the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp lifted its holdings in First Financial Bancorp. by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 26,260 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $657,000 after purchasing an additional 389 shares in the last quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC grew its position in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 14.2% in the fourth quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 3,309 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $83,000 after purchasing an additional 412 shares during the period. Finally, Hantz Financial Services Inc. grew its position in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 38.7% in the fourth quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 1,743 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 486 shares during the period. 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.