First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) Coverage Initiated by Analysts at Hovde Group

Key Points

• Hovde Group has initiated coverage of First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) with an "outperform" rating, indicating positive expectations for the stock's performance.
• First Financial Bancorp. posted a quarterly EPS of $0.74, surpassing analysts' estimates of $0.69, and reported a revenue of $226.30 million, exceeding expectations as well.
• As of the latest reports, the consensus rating for First Financial Bancorp. is "Moderate Buy" with a target price of $29.80, reflecting a balanced outlook among analysts.

Hovde Group began coverage on shares of First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC - Get Free Report) in a report released on Monday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports. The brokerage set an "outperform" rating on the bank's stock.

FFBC has been the topic of several other reports. Stephens reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $29.00 target price on shares of First Financial Bancorp. in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on First Financial Bancorp. from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 25th. Truist Financial boosted their target price on First Financial Bancorp. from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday. Weiss Ratings restated a "buy (b-)" rating on shares of First Financial Bancorp. in a research note on Saturday, September 27th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded First Financial Bancorp. from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Sunday, July 20th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, First Financial Bancorp. has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $29.80.

First Financial Bancorp. Price Performance

First Financial Bancorp. stock opened at $26.07 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.43 and a beta of 0.96. First Financial Bancorp. has a one year low of $21.10 and a one year high of $31.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.90. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $25.46 and a 200-day moving average price of $24.57.

First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 24th. The bank reported $0.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.05. First Financial Bancorp. had a return on equity of 10.57% and a net margin of 19.41%.The company had revenue of $226.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $219.95 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.64 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that First Financial Bancorp. will post 2.64 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at First Financial Bancorp.

In related news, CEO Archie M. Brown sold 12,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.79, for a total transaction of $309,875.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 240,891 shares in the company, valued at $5,971,687.89. The trade was a 4.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Thomas Murray Obrien sold 7,383 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.54, for a total transaction of $195,944.82. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 46,480 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,233,579.20. This trade represents a 13.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.13% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in FFBC. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in First Financial Bancorp. by 43.9% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,522 shares of the bank's stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 464 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC boosted its stake in First Financial Bancorp. by 24.4% during the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,201 shares of the bank's stock worth $55,000 after acquiring an additional 432 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP grew its holdings in First Financial Bancorp. by 75.4% in the second quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 3,102 shares of the bank's stock worth $75,000 after purchasing an additional 1,333 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. purchased a new stake in First Financial Bancorp. in the first quarter worth about $78,000. Finally, TD Private Client Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 36.5% during the first quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 3,570 shares of the bank's stock valued at $89,000 after purchasing an additional 954 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.23% of the company's stock.

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.

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