State Street Corp Raises Stock Holdings in First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC)

State Street Corp boosted its stake in First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) by 0.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,643,440 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 39,655 shares during the quarter. State Street Corp’s holdings in First Financial Bancorp. were worth $117,154,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of FFBC. Financial Management Professionals Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of First Financial Bancorp. in the 3rd quarter valued at $28,000. Point72 DIFC Ltd purchased a new stake in First Financial Bancorp. during the third quarter valued at about $30,000. Bogart Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 2,976.9% during the third quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC now owns 2,000 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $50,000 after buying an additional 1,935 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 23.1% in the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,340 shares of the bank’s stock worth $75,000 after buying an additional 627 shares during the period. Finally, Innealta Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of First Financial Bancorp. in the 2nd quarter valued at about $77,000. 77.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other First Financial Bancorp. news, insider James R. Shank sold 3,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.34, for a total transaction of $97,458.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 15,374 shares in the company, valued at approximately $404,951.16. The trade was a 19.40 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Richard S. Dennen sold 932 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.00, for a total value of $27,960.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 74,720 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,241,600. This trade represents a 1.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 11,700 shares of company stock valued at $335,429. 2.04% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FFBC has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Stephens upgraded shares of First Financial Bancorp. from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of First Financial Bancorp. from $28.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th.

First Financial Bancorp. Stock Performance

Shares of FFBC stock opened at $28.94 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.47 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.91. First Financial Bancorp. has a one year low of $20.59 and a one year high of $31.18. The company’s 50-day moving average is $27.53 and its 200 day moving average is $25.35.

First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The bank reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.66 by $0.01. First Financial Bancorp. had a net margin of 18.55% and a return on equity of 10.32%. The company had revenue of $302.82 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $214.00 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.67 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that First Financial Bancorp. will post 2.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First Financial Bancorp. Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd will be issued a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.32%. First Financial Bancorp.’s payout ratio is 41.38%.

First Financial Bancorp. Profile

First Financial Bancorp. operates as the bank holding company for First Financial Bank that provides commercial banking and related services to individuals and businesses in Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, and Illinois. The company offers checking, savings, and money-market accounts; and accepts various deposit products, such as interest-bearing and non-interest-bearing accounts, time deposits, and cash management services for commercial customers.