First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) Stock Rating Lowered by Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen cut shares of First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC - Free Report) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report released on Saturday morning.

Several other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on FFBC. Truist Financial initiated coverage on shares of First Financial Bancorp. in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. They set a "hold" rating and a $27.00 price target for the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on First Financial Bancorp. from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 25th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a "sector perform" rating and issued a $27.00 price target on shares of First Financial Bancorp. in a research report on Wednesday, June 25th. Finally, Stephens reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $29.00 price target on shares of First Financial Bancorp. in a research report on Friday, June 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $28.75.

First Financial Bancorp. Price Performance

FFBC traded down $0.75 on Friday, reaching $25.03. 120,696 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 417,863. First Financial Bancorp. has a twelve month low of $21.10 and a twelve month high of $31.18. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $24.37 and its 200-day moving average price is $25.24. The stock has a market cap of $2.40 billion, a PE ratio of 10.40 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.91.

First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The bank reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.63. The company had revenue of $201.59 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $214.80 million. First Financial Bancorp. had a net margin of 18.65% and a return on equity of 10.44%. First Financial Bancorp.'s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.59 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that First Financial Bancorp. will post 2.64 EPS for the current year.

First Financial Bancorp. Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 2nd. First Financial Bancorp.'s dividend payout ratio is presently 39.83%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 43.9% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,522 shares of the bank's stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 464 shares during the period. CWM LLC lifted its holdings in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 24.4% in the 1st quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,201 shares of the bank's stock valued at $55,000 after buying an additional 432 shares during the period. Quarry LP lifted its holdings in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 68.9% in the 4th quarter. Quarry LP now owns 2,502 shares of the bank's stock valued at $67,000 after buying an additional 1,021 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. purchased a new position in shares of First Financial Bancorp. in the 1st quarter valued at about $78,000. Finally, Sterling Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 807.3% in the 4th quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 2,976 shares of the bank's stock valued at $80,000 after purchasing an additional 2,648 shares in the last quarter. 77.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.