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

by · The Markets Daily

First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC – Get Free Report) released its earnings results on Thursday. The bank reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.66 by $0.01, Briefing.com reports. The company had revenue of $302.82 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $214.00 million. First Financial Bancorp. had a net margin of 19.67% and a return on equity of 10.69%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.67 EPS.

First Financial Bancorp. Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:FFBC traded down $1.05 during trading on Friday, reaching $24.38. The company had a trading volume of 715,460 shares, compared to its average volume of 369,221. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $25.35 and its 200 day moving average is $23.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.33 billion, a PE ratio of 9.83 and a beta of 0.99. First Financial Bancorp. has a twelve month low of $17.34 and a twelve month high of $28.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 0.93.

First Financial Bancorp. Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be paid a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.94%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. First Financial Bancorp.’s dividend payout ratio is currently 38.71%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of First Financial Bancorp. from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of First Financial Bancorp. from $25.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th.

Get Our Latest Research Report on First Financial Bancorp.

Insider Transactions at First Financial Bancorp.

In related news, insider Claude E. Davis sold 29,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.60, for a total transaction of $771,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 53,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,425,121.60. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 2.04% of the company’s stock.

About First Financial Bancorp.

(Get Free Report)

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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