Private Advisor Group LLC Acquires New Stake in First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC)

Private Advisor Group LLC acquired a new stake in First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 12,616 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $318,000.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Arizona State Retirement System raised its holdings in First Financial Bancorp. by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 26,617 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $591,000 after acquiring an additional 475 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in First Financial Bancorp. by 23.1% during the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,340 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $75,000 after acquiring an additional 627 shares during the period. EntryPoint Capital LLC raised its holdings in First Financial Bancorp. by 63.9% during the 1st quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC now owns 1,732 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 675 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System raised its holdings in First Financial Bancorp. by 1.9% during the 2nd quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 48,000 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,067,000 after acquiring an additional 900 shares during the period. Finally, Beacon Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in First Financial Bancorp. by 9.6% during the 1st quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 11,394 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $255,000 after acquiring an additional 1,000 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.23% of the company’s stock.

First Financial Bancorp. Stock Up 13.8 %

FFBC opened at $29.40 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $2.81 billion, a PE ratio of 12.63 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. First Financial Bancorp. has a 52 week low of $19.00 and a 52 week high of $29.77. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $25.35 and its 200 day simple moving average is $24.12.

First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The bank reported $0.67 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.66 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $302.82 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $214.00 million. First Financial Bancorp. had a return on equity of 10.32% and a net margin of 18.55%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.67 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that First Financial Bancorp. will post 2.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

First Financial Bancorp. Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.27%. First Financial Bancorp.’s payout ratio is 41.38%.

Insider Buying and Selling at First Financial Bancorp.

In other First Financial Bancorp. news, insider Scott T. Crawley sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.31, for a total transaction of $87,930.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 19,279 shares in the company, valued at $565,067.49. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, insider Claude E. Davis sold 29,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.60, for a total transaction of $771,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 53,576 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,425,121.60. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Scott T. Crawley sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.31, for a total transaction of $87,930.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 19,279 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $565,067.49. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 35,700 shares of company stock worth $956,788 over the last three months. Company insiders own 2.04% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of First Financial Bancorp. from $25.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of First Financial Bancorp. from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th.

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.