NASDAQ:FFBC - First Financial Bancorp Stock Price, News, & Analysis

First Financial Bancorp trades on the NASDAQ under the ticker symbol "FFBC."

First Financial Bancorp declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, January 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.22 per share on Friday, March 15th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.80%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 28th. This is a positive change from First Financial Bancorp's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. View First Financial Bancorp's Dividend History.

First Financial Bancorp announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback plan on Monday, January 14th 2019, which permits the company to buyback 0 outstanding shares, according to EventVestor. This buyback authorization permits the company to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

First Financial Bancorp (NASDAQ:FFBC) posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January, 23rd. The bank reported $0.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.03. The bank earned $155.46 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $152.75 million. First Financial Bancorp had a return on equity of 11.63% and a net margin of 26.81%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.45 earnings per share. View First Financial Bancorp's Earnings History.

First Financial Bancorp is scheduled to release their next quarterly earnings announcement on Thursday, April 18th 2019. View Earnings Estimates for First Financial Bancorp.

8 Wall Street analysts have issued twelve-month price targets for First Financial Bancorp's shares. Their predictions range from $26.00 to $33.00. On average, they expect First Financial Bancorp's share price to reach $29.8333 in the next year. This suggests a possible upside of 28.9% from the stock's current price. View Analyst Price Targets for First Financial Bancorp.

8 Wall Street analysts have issued "buy," "hold," and "sell" ratings for First Financial Bancorp in the last year. There are currently 1 sell rating, 6 hold ratings and 1 buy rating for the stock, resulting in a consensus recommendation of "Hold." View Analyst Ratings for First Financial Bancorp.

Headlines about FFBC stock have trended somewhat negative recently, according to InfoTrie. The research firm identifies negative and positive media coverage by reviewing more than six thousand news and blog sources in real-time. The firm ranks coverage of companies on a scale of negative five to positive five, with scores nearest to five being the most favorable. First Financial Bancorp earned a news impact score of -1.1 on InfoTrie's scale. They also gave news headlines about the bank a news buzz of 10.0 out of 10, indicating that recent media coverage is extremely likely to have an impact on the stock's share price in the near term.

Some companies that are related to First Financial Bancorp include Zions Bancorporation NA (ZION), Cullen/Frost Bankers (CFR), BOK Financial (BOKF), Synovus Financial (SNV), CIT Group (CIT), Webster Financial (WBS), Akbank T.A.S. (AKBTY), PacWest Bancorp (PACW), First Horizon National (FHN), Pinnacle Financial Partners (PNFP), Sterling Bancorp (STL), MB Financial (MBFI), F.N.B. (FNB), TCF Financial (TCF) and Valley National Bancorp (VLY).

Based on aggregate information from My MarketBeat watchlists, some companies that other First Financial Bancorp investors own include Walmart (WMT), Micron Technology (MU), United Technologies (UTX), Weyerhaeuser (WY), General Mills (GIS), Clorox (CLX), VMware (VMW), American Airlines Group (AAL), Bank of America (BAC) and Netflix (NFLX).

First Financial Bancorp's stock is owned by many different of institutional and retail investors. Top institutional investors include BlackRock Inc. (13.87%), Dimensional Fund Advisors LP (5.61%), Macquarie Group Ltd. (4.92%), Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. (2.48%), Northern Trust Corp (2.33%) and Bank of New York Mellon Corp (1.43%). Company insiders that own First Financial Bancorp stock include Anthony M Stollings, Bradley J Ringwald, C Douglas Lefferson, Claude E Davis, David S Barker, J Wickliffe Ach, John T Neighbours, Matthew B Burgess, Paul C Silva, Richard E Olszewski and Vince Berta. View Institutional Ownership Trends for First Financial Bancorp.

FFBC stock was sold by a variety of institutional investors in the last quarter, including BlackRock Inc., Walthausen & Co. LLC, Barclays PLC, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP, Millennium Management LLC, First Financial Bank Trust Division, Prudential Financial Inc. and Natixis Advisors L.P.. Company insiders that have sold First Financial Bancorp company stock in the last year include Anthony M Stollings, Bradley J Ringwald, Claude E Davis and John T Neighbours. View Insider Buying and Selling for First Financial Bancorp.

FFBC stock was bought by a variety of institutional investors in the last quarter, including Norges Bank, Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund, Macquarie Group Ltd., Rafferty Asset Management LLC, Dean Investment Associates LLC, Bank of America Corp DE, Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. and Bahl & Gaynor Inc.. Company insiders that have bought First Financial Bancorp stock in the last two years include David S Barker, J Wickliffe Ach, Matthew B Burgess, Richard E Olszewski and Vince Berta. View Insider Buying and Selling for First Financial Bancorp.

Shares of FFBC can be purchased through any online brokerage account. Popular online brokerages with access to the U.S. stock market include Vanguard Brokerage Services, TD Ameritrade, E*TRADE, Scottrade, Fidelity and Charles Schwab.

One share of FFBC stock can currently be purchased for approximately $23.15.

First Financial Bancorp has a market capitalization of $2.28 billion and generates $643.76 million in revenue each year. The bank earns $172.60 million in net income (profit) each year or $2.28 on an earnings per share basis. First Financial Bancorp employs 2,131 workers across the globe.

The official website for First Financial Bancorp is http://www.bankatfirst.com.

First Financial Bancorp's mailing address is 255 EAST FIFTH STREET SUITE 800, CINCINNATI OH, 45202. The bank can be reached via phone at 877-322-9530 or via email at [email protected]