First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) Releases Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.01 EPS

Key Points

• First Financial Bancorp. reported a quarterly EPS of $0.76, exceeding expectations by $0.01, with a net margin of 19.41% and a return on equity of 10.57%.
• Insider selling included Director Thomas Murray Obrien reducing his stake by 13.71% and CEO Archie M. Brown selling shares valued at approximately $309,875.
• Analysts have set a consensus target price of $29.83 for First Financial Bancorp., with multiple firms rating the stock as a "Moderate Buy."

First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC - Get Free Report) announced its earnings results on Thursday. The bank reported $0.76 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.01, Zacks reports. First Financial Bancorp. had a net margin of 19.41% and a return on equity of 10.57%.

First Financial Bancorp. Price Performance

FFBC traded down $0.03 during trading on Thursday, hitting $24.32. 461,041 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 434,113. First Financial Bancorp. has a twelve month low of $21.10 and a twelve month high of $31.18. The company has a market cap of $2.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.73 and a beta of 0.96. 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 50 day moving average price of $25.64 and a 200 day moving average price of $24.59.

Insider Activity at First Financial Bancorp.

In related news, Director Thomas Murray Obrien sold 7,383 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.54, for a total transaction of $195,944.82. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 46,480 shares in the company, valued at $1,233,579.20. This represents a 13.71% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Archie M. Brown sold 12,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 14th. The stock was 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,971,687.89. This represents a 4.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.13% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On First Financial Bancorp.

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FFBC. Jump Financial LLC grew its holdings in First Financial Bancorp. by 3.9% during the 2nd quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 17,380 shares of the bank's stock worth $422,000 after acquiring an additional 646 shares during the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System grew its holdings in First Financial Bancorp. by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 88,227 shares of the bank's stock worth $2,140,000 after acquiring an additional 717 shares during the last quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 64,031 shares of the bank's stock valued at $1,553,000 after purchasing an additional 1,412 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 4.6% in the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 56,205 shares of the bank's stock valued at $1,404,000 after purchasing an additional 2,458 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Osaic Holdings Inc. boosted its stake in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 38.6% in the 2nd quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 10,823 shares of the bank's stock valued at $263,000 after purchasing an additional 3,013 shares during the last quarter. 77.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have weighed in on the stock. Raymond James Financial set a $30.00 price objective on shares of First Financial Bancorp. and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. Hovde Group assumed coverage on shares of First Financial Bancorp. in a research note on Monday, October 6th. They issued an "outperform" rating for the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of First Financial Bancorp. from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 25th. Stephens reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $29.00 price objective on shares of First Financial Bancorp. in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a "buy (b-)" rating on shares of First Financial Bancorp. in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $29.83.

First Financial Bancorp. Company Profile

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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