Creative Planning Raises Stock Holdings in First Financial Co. (NASDAQ:THFF)

Creative Planning lifted its holdings in shares of First Financial Co. (NASDAQ:THFF) by 57.1% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 47,665 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 17,322 shares during the quarter. Creative Planning owned 0.40% of First Financial worth $2,090,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Country Trust Bank bought a new position in First Financial during the second quarter valued at $111,000. Comerica Bank grew its holdings in First Financial by 6,849.2% during the first quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 4,517 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $173,000 after purchasing an additional 4,452 shares during the period. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale bought a new position in First Financial during the first quarter valued at $175,000. CWM LLC grew its holdings in First Financial by 102.3% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 5,098 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $188,000 after purchasing an additional 2,578 shares during the period. Finally, Quest Partners LLC grew its holdings in First Financial by 6.0% during the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 7,043 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $260,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the period. 72.74% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on First Financial from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th.

First Financial Price Performance

First Financial stock opened at $42.12 on Monday. First Financial Co. has a one year low of $32.72 and a one year high of $47.00. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $43.31 and a 200-day moving average price of $40.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $497.61 million, a P/E ratio of 8.98 and a beta of 0.47.

First Financial (NASDAQ:THFF) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The bank reported $0.74 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by ($0.17). First Financial had a return on equity of 8.25% and a net margin of 14.86%. The company had revenue of $82.92 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $57.95 million. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that First Financial Co. will post 3.85 EPS for the current year.

First Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 1st were issued a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 1st. First Financial’s payout ratio is currently 38.38%.

First Financial Company Profile

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.