First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) Shares Bought by Empowered Funds LLC

Empowered Funds LLC lifted its stake in shares of First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) by 5.4% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 293,712 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 14,922 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings in First Financial Bancorp. were worth $7,410,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System increased its position in First Financial Bancorp. by 115.9% in the first quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 58,070 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,264,000 after buying an additional 31,170 shares during the period. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. lifted its position in First Financial Bancorp. by 6.8% in the 1st quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 625,822 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $14,031,000 after purchasing an additional 39,870 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in First Financial Bancorp. during the 2nd quarter valued at about $300,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC grew its position in First Financial Bancorp. by 63.9% in the 1st quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC now owns 1,732 shares of the bank’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 675 shares during the last quarter. Finally, QRG Capital Management Inc. grew its position in First Financial Bancorp. by 10.1% in the 2nd quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 33,425 shares of the bank’s stock worth $743,000 after purchasing an additional 3,067 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 77.23% of the company’s stock.

First Financial Bancorp. Stock Performance

FFBC opened at $29.10 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $25.81 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $24.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The company has a market capitalization of $2.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.54 and a beta of 0.99. First Financial Bancorp. has a 1-year low of $19.92 and a 1-year high of $30.11.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $0.66 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $302.82 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 posted $0.67 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that First Financial Bancorp. will post 2.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First Financial Bancorp. Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be paid a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.30%. First Financial Bancorp.’s dividend payout ratio is currently 41.38%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other First Financial Bancorp. news, insider Richard S. Dennen sold 932 shares of the company’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 transaction, the insider now owns 74,720 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,241,600. This represents a 1.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Scott T. Crawley sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.31, for a total value of $87,930.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 19,279 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $565,067.49. This represents a 13.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 36,632 shares of company stock worth $984,748 in the last ninety days. 2.04% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on FFBC. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on First Financial Bancorp. from $25.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on First Financial Bancorp. from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th.

About First Financial Bancorp.

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.