Jane Street Group LLC Has $601,000 Holdings in First Financial Co. (NASDAQ:THFF)

Jane Street Group LLC grew its position in First Financial Co. (NASDAQ:THFF) by 18.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 13,704 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,154 shares during the period. Jane Street Group LLC’s holdings in First Financial were worth $601,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of THFF. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of First Financial by 15.6% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 302,323 shares of the bank’s stock worth $11,150,000 after acquiring an additional 40,726 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of First Financial by 81.2% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 73,144 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,698,000 after acquiring an additional 32,783 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in shares of First Financial by 19.5% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 190,126 shares of the bank’s stock worth $7,012,000 after acquiring an additional 30,986 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning boosted its stake in shares of First Financial by 57.1% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 47,665 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,090,000 after acquiring an additional 17,322 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its stake in shares of First Financial by 6.5% during the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 127,791 shares of the bank’s stock worth $4,713,000 after acquiring an additional 7,828 shares in the last quarter. 72.74% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Raymond James upgraded First Financial from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $54.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th.

First Financial Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:THFF opened at $45.46 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $47.77 and a 200 day moving average price of $43.91. First Financial Co. has a twelve month low of $34.58 and a twelve month high of $51.87. The company has a market cap of $536.79 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.32 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05.

First Financial (NASDAQ:THFF) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The bank reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.91 by ($0.17). First Financial had a net margin of 14.86% and a return on equity of 8.10%. The business had revenue of $82.92 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $57.95 million. Research analysts predict that First Financial Co. will post 3.92 earnings per share for the current year.

First Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.51 per share. This is an increase from First Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.49%. First Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 55.28%.

About First Financial

First Financial Corporation, through its subsidiaries, provides various financial services. The company offers non-interest-bearing demand, interest-bearing demand, savings, time, and other time deposits. It also provides commercial loans primarily to expand a business or finance asset purchases; residential real estate and residential real estate construction loans; and home equity loans and lines, secured loans, and cash/CD secured and unsecured loans.