First Financial Bancorp. $FFBC Shares Acquired by Fifth Third Bancorp

Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its stake in shares of First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) by 176.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 80,826 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 51,627 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp’s holdings in First Financial Bancorp. were worth $2,253,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. raised its stake in First Financial Bancorp. by 137.6% in the 4th quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 991 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 574 shares during the last quarter. First Horizon Corp boosted its stake in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 56.0% during the 4th quarter. First Horizon Corp now owns 1,526 shares of the bank’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 548 shares during the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. boosted its stake in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 38.7% during the 4th 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. Smithfield Trust Co purchased a new stake in shares of First Financial Bancorp. during the fourth quarter worth about $50,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 21.7% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,036 shares of the bank’s stock worth $76,000 after buying an additional 541 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.23% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on FFBC. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of First Financial Bancorp. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of First Financial Bancorp. from $33.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Raymond James Financial boosted their price target on First Financial Bancorp. from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on First Financial Bancorp. from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of First Financial Bancorp. in a report on Monday, June 8th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $33.67.

First Financial Bancorp. Stock Up 0.5%

FFBC opened at $35.67 on Wednesday. First Financial Bancorp. has a 12 month low of $23.06 and a 12 month high of $36.24. The business has a 50-day moving average of $32.32 and a two-hundred day moving average of $29.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.60 and a beta of 0.92.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.02. First Financial Bancorp. had a net margin of 20.92% and a return on equity of 11.09%. The business had revenue of $264.17 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $270.29 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.74 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that First Financial Bancorp. will post 3.28 earnings per share for the current year.

First Financial Bancorp. Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 1st were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 1st. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.8%. First Financial Bancorp.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 35.34%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Claude E. Davis sold 26,123 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.45, for a total transaction of $795,445.35. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 30,410 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $925,984.50. The trade was a 46.21% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Archie M. Brown sold 10,000 shares of the 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 directly owned 243,758 shares in the company, valued at $7,539,434.94. This trade represents a 3.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 41,126 shares of company stock valued at $1,255,501 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.08% 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.