Nordea Investment Management AB Cuts Stake in First Financial Bancorp. $FFBC

Nordea Investment Management AB lessened its stake in shares of First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) by 13.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 268,755 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 40,269 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB owned 0.27% of First Financial Bancorp. worth $6,746,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in First Financial Bancorp. by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,713,828 shares of the bank’s stock worth $270,524,000 after buying an additional 47,496 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 12.4% during the third quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 945,401 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $23,871,000 after acquiring an additional 104,550 shares during the last quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd lifted its position in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 22.7% in the second quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 786,319 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $19,076,000 after acquiring an additional 145,575 shares in the last quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 4.6% in the third quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 739,666 shares of the bank’s stock worth $18,677,000 after acquiring an additional 32,822 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 3.9% in the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 589,799 shares of the bank’s stock worth $14,733,000 after acquiring an additional 22,227 shares during the last quarter. 77.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently commented on the company. Hovde Group boosted their price target on First Financial Bancorp. from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of First Financial Bancorp. from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of First Financial Bancorp. from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Monday, January 26th. Truist Financial increased their target price on shares of First Financial Bancorp. from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on shares of First Financial Bancorp. from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $30.50.

First Financial Bancorp. Price Performance

NASDAQ:FFBC opened at $27.70 on Friday. First Financial Bancorp. has a one year low of $21.10 and a one year high of $31.38. The stock has a market cap of $2.90 billion, a PE ratio of 10.41 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 0.89. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $28.34 and a 200 day moving average price of $26.30.

First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 28th. The bank reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $251.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $249.00 million. First Financial Bancorp. had a return on equity of 10.77% and a net margin of 20.30%.During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.71 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that First Financial Bancorp. will post 2.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First Financial Bancorp. Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 2nd were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 2nd. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.6%. First Financial Bancorp.’s payout ratio is presently 37.59%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Karen B. Woods sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.28, for a total transaction of $302,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 63,954 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,936,527.12. This trade represents a 13.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Gregory A. Harris sold 1,821 shares of First Financial Bancorp. stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.43, for a total transaction of $53,592.03. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 42,431 shares in the company, valued at $1,248,744.33. This trade represents a 4.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 32,141 shares of company stock valued at $969,429. 1.13% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

First Financial Bancorp. 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.