Marshall Wace LLP Increases Stock Holdings in First Financial Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIN)

Marshall Wace LLP increased its position in First Financial Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIN) by 19.7% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 127,782 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 21,020 shares during the quarter. Marshall Wace LLP’s holdings in First Financial Bankshares were worth $3,773,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. First Financial Bankshares Inc bought a new position in First Financial Bankshares in the 4th quarter valued at $553,577,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in First Financial Bankshares by 3.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,956,322 shares of the bank’s stock worth $490,717,000 after acquiring an additional 490,770 shares during the last quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of First Financial Bankshares by 27.6% in the 1st quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 3,334,349 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $109,400,000 after acquiring an additional 720,820 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC boosted its position in shares of First Financial Bankshares by 3,632.9% during the 2nd quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 2,992,894 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $884,000 after acquiring an additional 2,912,718 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of First Financial Bankshares by 5.4% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,556,205 shares of the bank’s stock worth $75,482,000 after purchasing an additional 130,361 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.78% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Stephens raised their target price on shares of First Financial Bankshares from $31.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of First Financial Bankshares from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th.

First Financial Bankshares Trading Down 1.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ FFIN opened at $35.58 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $36.31 and its 200 day moving average is $32.53. The stock has a market cap of $5.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.41 and a beta of 0.78. First Financial Bankshares, Inc. has a 1-year low of $22.84 and a 1-year high of $39.53.

First Financial Bankshares (NASDAQ:FFIN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The bank reported $0.37 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.01. First Financial Bankshares had a net margin of 29.13% and a return on equity of 14.01%. The firm had revenue of $184.94 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $134.10 million. On average, analysts forecast that First Financial Bankshares, Inc. will post 1.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First Financial Bankshares Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 12th were given a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 12th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.02%. First Financial Bankshares’s payout ratio is 51.43%.

First Financial Bankshares Company Profile

First Financial Bankshares, Inc, through its subsidiaries, provides commercial banking products and services in Texas. The company offers checking, savings and time deposits; automated teller machines, drive-in, and night deposit services; safe deposit facilities, remote deposit capture, internet banking, mobile banking, payroll cards, funds transfer, and performing other customary commercial banking services; securities brokerage services; and trust and wealth management services, including wealth management, estates administration, oil and gas management, testamentary trusts, revocable and irrevocable trusts, and agency accounts.