Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. Sells 3,228 Shares of First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC)

Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. lessened its stake in First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) by 1.6% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 200,866 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 3,228 shares during the quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. owned approximately 0.21% of First Financial Bancorp. worth $4,106,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. BlackRock Inc. increased its position in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 3.1% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 13,933,810 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $303,339,000 after acquiring an additional 423,327 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 0.7% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,686,870 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $225,279,000 after acquiring an additional 69,684 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 2.3% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,535,230 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $142,270,000 after acquiring an additional 145,891 shares during the last quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. increased its position in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 2.1% during the second quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. now owns 6,179,741 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $119,889,000 after acquiring an additional 125,325 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp increased its position in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 4.5% during the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,138,615 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $90,098,000 after acquiring an additional 178,038 shares during the last quarter. 75.92% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have issued reports on FFBC shares. Stephens reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $24.00 target price on shares of First Financial Bancorp. in a research report on Friday, July 21st. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on First Financial Bancorp. from $22.00 to $21.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 26th. Finally, StockNews.com started coverage on First Financial Bancorp. in a research report on Thursday, October 5th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, First Financial Bancorp. has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $23.00.

First Financial Bancorp. Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ FFBC traded up $0.39 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $20.92. The company had a trading volume of 379,598 shares, compared to its average volume of 328,793. The company has a market capitalization of $1.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.42 and a beta of 1.08. First Financial Bancorp. has a 1 year low of $17.23 and a 1 year high of $26.72. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $19.54 and its 200-day moving average price is $20.54.

First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 25th. The bank reported $0.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.67. The company had revenue of $288.72 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $209.25 million. First Financial Bancorp. had a return on equity of 12.99% and a net margin of 24.93%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.61 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that First Financial Bancorp. will post 2.75 earnings per share for the current year.

First Financial Bancorp. Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 15th. Investors of record on Friday, December 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.23 per share. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 30th. First Financial Bancorp.’s dividend payout ratio is 32.62%.

First Financial Bancorp. 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 accepts various deposit products, such as interest-bearing and noninterest-bearing accounts, time deposits, and cash management services for commercial customers.