First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) Stock Crosses Above Two Hundred Day Moving Average – Should You Sell?

First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC)’s stock price crossed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Thursday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of $31.01 and traded as high as $32.81. First Financial Bancorp. shares last traded at $32.73, with a volume of 402,723 shares traded.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of First Financial Bancorp. from $33.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, July 10th. Raymond James Financial lifted their price target on First Financial Bancorp. from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note 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, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of First Financial Bancorp. in a report on Monday, June 8th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $33.67.

First Financial Bancorp. Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.85. The stock has a market cap of $3.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.57 and a beta of 0.92. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $33.88 and its 200-day moving average price is $31.01.

First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) last released its quarterly earnings results 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. First Financial Bancorp. had a net margin of 20.77% and a return on equity of 11.13%. The company had revenue of $264.17 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $270.29 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.74 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that First Financial Bancorp. will post 3.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First Financial Bancorp. Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 15th. Shareholders 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 represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.2%. This is an increase from First Financial Bancorp.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. First Financial Bancorp.’s payout ratio is 35.34%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Archie M. Brown sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 243,758 shares in the company, valued at $7,539,434.94. The trade was a 3.94% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 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 approximately $775,807.76. This represents a 10.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 17,440 shares of company stock valued at $559,318 in the last 90 days. 1.08% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Waverly Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 0.8% in the first quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC now owns 46,429 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,294,000 after acquiring an additional 376 shares during the period. Kestra Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 381 shares during the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp boosted its holdings in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 26,260 shares of the bank’s stock worth $657,000 after purchasing an additional 389 shares during the period. TD Private Client Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 14.2% during the fourth quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 3,309 shares of the bank’s stock worth $83,000 after purchasing an additional 412 shares during the period. Finally, Hantz Financial Services Inc. grew its stake 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 worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 486 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.