First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) Posts Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.07 EPS

Key Points

• First Financial Bancorp. beat Q1 expectations with $0.77 EPS vs. $0.70 expected and revenue of $265.3M, with a return on equity of 10.77% and net margin of 20.30% (prior-year EPS was $0.63).
• The company paid a quarterly dividend of $0.25 per share (annualized $1.00), implying a yield of about 3.3% and a payout ratio near 37.6%.
• Insiders sold a total of 32,141 shares in the past three months while institutional investors own roughly 77.2% of the stock; analysts’ consensus rating is a Moderate Buy with a $31.17 target.

First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC - Get Free Report) released its earnings results on Thursday. The bank reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.70 by $0.07, FiscalAI reports. First Financial Bancorp. had a return on equity of 10.77% and a net margin of 20.30%.The company had revenue of $265.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $257.97 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.63 EPS.

First Financial Bancorp. Price Performance

Shares of FFBC opened at $29.86 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.23 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $28.41 and a 200 day moving average of $26.72. First Financial Bancorp. has a twelve month low of $22.55 and a twelve month high of $31.38.

First Financial Bancorp. Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 2nd. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.3%. First Financial Bancorp.'s dividend payout ratio is presently 37.59%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Richard S. Dennen sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.20, for a total transaction of $604,000.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 61,856 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,868,051.20. This trade represents a 24.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Gregory A. Harris sold 1,821 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.43, for a total transaction of $53,592.03. Following the transaction, the insider owned 42,431 shares in the company, valued at $1,248,744.33. This represents a 4.12% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 32,141 shares of company stock worth $969,429 in the last three months. Insiders own 1.13% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On First Financial Bancorp.

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in First Financial Bancorp. by 55.0% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 97,727 shares of the bank's stock worth $2,441,000 after acquiring an additional 34,676 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its position in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 4.6% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 56,205 shares of the bank's stock worth $1,404,000 after purchasing an additional 2,458 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC boosted its position in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 3.9% in the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 589,799 shares of the bank's stock worth $14,733,000 after purchasing an additional 22,227 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its stake in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 571.4% in the first quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 7,412 shares of the bank's stock worth $185,000 after purchasing an additional 6,308 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its stake in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 6.0% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 318,298 shares of the bank's stock worth $7,951,000 after purchasing an additional 17,911 shares in the last quarter. 77.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FFBC has been the topic of several recent research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on First Financial Bancorp. from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. Truist Financial raised their price objective on First Financial Bancorp. from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Hovde Group boosted their target price on shares of First Financial Bancorp. from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on shares of First Financial Bancorp. from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of First Financial Bancorp. from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $31.17.

First Financial Bancorp. Company Profile

First Financial Bancorp NASDAQ: FFBC is a bank holding company headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, and the parent of First Financial Bank. The company provides a comprehensive suite of commercial and consumer banking services through a network of more than 100 full-service banking centers and mortgage offices across Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky. Its core mission centers on delivering personalized relationship banking to businesses, individuals and public sector clients.

First Financial Bank's product portfolio includes deposit solutions such as checking, savings and money market accounts, alongside a range of lending offerings that cover commercial and industrial loans, real estate and construction financing, home mortgages and home equity lines of credit.