First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) Issues Earnings Results

First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday. The bank reported $0.67 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.66 by $0.01, Briefing.com reports. The firm had revenue of $302.82 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $214.00 million. First Financial Bancorp. had a net margin of 19.67% and a return on equity of 10.69%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.67 EPS.

First Financial Bancorp. Price Performance

NASDAQ FFBC traded down $1.05 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $24.38. 715,460 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 369,221. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.93. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $25.37 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $23.84. First Financial Bancorp. has a 1 year low of $17.34 and a 1 year high of $28.25. The company has a market cap of $2.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.84 and a beta of 0.99.

First Financial Bancorp. Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd will be paid a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.94%. First Financial Bancorp.’s dividend payout ratio is presently 38.71%.

Insider Transactions at First Financial Bancorp.

In other First Financial Bancorp. news, insider Claude E. Davis sold 29,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.60, for a total transaction of $771,400.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 53,576 shares in the company, valued at $1,425,121.60. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 2.04% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on FFBC shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on First Financial Bancorp. from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. 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 report 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.