Sei Investments Co. Has $4.05 Million Stock Position in First Financial Bancorp. $FFBC

Sei Investments Co. raised its position in First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) by 220.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 145,204 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 99,837 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. owned approximately 0.14% of First Financial Bancorp. worth $4,048,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its holdings in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 9.4% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 14,610 shares of the bank’s stock worth $407,000 after purchasing an additional 1,252 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP grew its position in First Financial Bancorp. by 557.5% in the 1st 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. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in First Financial Bancorp. by 6.0% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,617,522 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $184,493,000 after purchasing an additional 374,373 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its stake in First Financial Bancorp. by 11.3% during the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 15,283 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $426,000 after purchasing an additional 1,546 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in First Financial Bancorp. by 0.6% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,183,775 shares of the bank’s stock worth $33,004,000 after buying an additional 7,523 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 77.23% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FFBC has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Truist Financial lifted their price objective 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. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of First Financial Bancorp. in a report on Monday, June 8th. Raymond James Financial raised their price target on shares of First Financial Bancorp. from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. Wall Street Zen downgraded First Financial Bancorp. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on First Financial Bancorp. from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Four investment 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 has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $33.67.

First Financial Bancorp. Stock Down 1.8%

FFBC opened at $33.78 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The company’s 50-day moving average is $33.18 and its 200 day moving average is $30.46. First Financial Bancorp. has a fifty-two week low of $23.06 and a fifty-two week high of $36.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.94 and a beta of 0.92.

First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 21st. The bank reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $264.17 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $270.29 million. First Financial Bancorp. had a net margin of 20.77% and a return on equity of 11.13%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.74 EPS. Research analysts expect that First Financial Bancorp. will post 3.22 earnings per share 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. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 1st will be given a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 1st. This is a positive change from First Financial Bancorp.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.1%. First Financial Bancorp.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.34%.

Insider Activity at First Financial Bancorp.

In other First Financial Bancorp. news, CEO Archie M. Brown sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.93, for a total value of $309,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 243,758 shares in the company, valued at $7,539,434.94. This represents a 3.94% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO James M. Anderson sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.73, for a total value of $134,920.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 114,537 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,863,333.01. This represents a 3.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders sold 17,440 shares of company stock valued at $559,318. 1.08% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About First Financial Bancorp.

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.