First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.26

Key Points

• First Financial Bancorp. announced a quarterly dividend of $0.26 per share, up 4.0% from the previous $0.25 payment. The dividend is payable on September 15 to shareholders of record on September 1.
• The new dividend implies an annualized yield of about 2.9%, and the bank’s payout ratio of 36.2% suggests the dividend is well covered by earnings. Analysts expect the company to continue covering the payout next year as well.
• In its latest quarterly results, First Financial Bancorp. reported EPS of $0.80, beating analyst expectations of $0.78. Revenue came in slightly below forecasts, but the company still showed solid profitability with a 11.09% return on equity.

First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC - Get Free Report) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, July 21st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 1st will be given a dividend of 0.26 per share by the bank on Tuesday, September 15th. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 1st. This is a 4.0% increase from First Financial Bancorp.'s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25.

First Financial Bancorp. has increased its dividend payment by an average of 0.0%per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 1 consecutive years. First Financial Bancorp. has a dividend payout ratio of 36.2% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect First Financial Bancorp. to earn $3.40 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 29.4%.

First Financial Bancorp. Price Performance

NASDAQ:FFBC opened at $35.67 on Wednesday. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $32.32 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $29.77. First Financial Bancorp. has a 52 week low of $23.06 and a 52 week high of $36.24. The stock has a market cap of $3.74 billion, a PE ratio of 12.60 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 21st. The bank reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.02. First Financial Bancorp. had a return on equity of 11.09% and a net margin of 20.92%.The firm had revenue of $264.17 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $270.29 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.74 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that First Financial Bancorp. will post 3.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About First Financial Bancorp.

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.

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