First Financial Bancorp. (FFBC) Projected to Post Earnings on Thursday

First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) is anticipated to announce its earnings results after the market closes on Thursday, January 23rd. Analysts expect the company to announce earnings of $0.65 per share and revenue of $216,325.00 billion for the quarter.

First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The bank reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.66 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $302.82 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $214.00 million. First Financial Bancorp. had a net margin of 18.55% and a return on equity of 10.32%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.67 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect First Financial Bancorp. to post $3 EPS for the current fiscal year and $2 EPS for the next fiscal year.

First Financial Bancorp. Price Performance

FFBC stock opened at $27.56 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The firm has a market cap of $2.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.88 and a beta of 1.02. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $28.24 and its 200 day simple moving average is $26.22. First Financial Bancorp. has a 12-month low of $20.59 and a 12-month high of $31.18.

First Financial Bancorp. Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd were given a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.48%. First Financial Bancorp.’s payout ratio is 41.38%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Scott T. Crawley sold 3,000 shares of the business’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 of the company’s stock, valued at $565,067.49. The trade was a 13.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider James R. Shank sold 3,700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 11,700 shares of company stock worth $335,429. Corporate insiders own 2.04% of the company’s stock.

First Financial Bancorp. Company 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.