First Financial Bancorp. $FFBC Shares Acquired by Waverly Advisors LLC

Waverly Advisors LLC grew its stake in First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) by 43.8% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 66,768 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 20,339 shares during the period. Waverly Advisors LLC’s holdings in First Financial Bancorp. were worth $2,259,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. boosted its position in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 137.6% during the 4th quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 991 shares of the bank’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 574 shares during the period. Nykredit A S acquired a new position in First Financial Bancorp. during the second quarter worth $55,000. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new position in shares of First Financial Bancorp. during the second quarter worth $57,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. boosted its position in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 38.7% during the fourth quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 1,743 shares of the bank’s stock worth $44,000 after buying an additional 486 shares during the period. Finally, Smithfield Trust Co acquired a new stake in shares of First Financial Bancorp. in the fourth quarter valued at $50,000. 77.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO James M. Anderson sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.73, for a total transaction of $134,920.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 114,537 shares in the company, valued at $3,863,333.01. The trade was a 3.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Scott T. Crawley sold 2,700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.16, for a total value of $92,232.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 22,711 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $775,807.76. This trade represents a 10.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 27,788 shares of company stock valued at $919,006. 1.08% of the stock is owned by insiders.

First Financial Bancorp. Trading Down 0.1%

NASDAQ FFBC opened at $32.50 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. First Financial Bancorp. has a 52 week low of $23.06 and a 52 week high of $36.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.41 billion, a PE ratio of 11.48 and a beta of 0.91. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $33.71 and a two-hundred day moving average of $31.17.

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

First Financial Bancorp. Increases Dividend

The firm 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 dividend of $0.26 per share. This is a positive change from First Financial Bancorp.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 1st. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.2%. First Financial Bancorp.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.75%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Truist Financial increased their target price on First Financial Bancorp. from $33.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Wall Street Zen downgraded First Financial Bancorp. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of First Financial Bancorp. in a research note on Friday, September 4th. Finally, Raymond James Financial increased 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 analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $33.67.

First Financial Bancorp. Company Profile

First Financial Bancorp. is a bank holding company headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio. Through its principal subsidiary, First Financial Bank, the company provides banking and financial services to businesses, individuals, and community organizations.

First Financial Bank offers commercial and retail banking products, including business loans, commercial real estate financing, consumer lending, residential mortgage services, deposit accounts, treasury management, and online and mobile banking.