First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) Short Interest Update

First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,650,000 shares, a growth of 9.3% from the October 31st total of 1,510,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 419,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.9 days. Currently, 1.8% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Insider Activity

In other First Financial Bancorp. news, insider Scott T. Crawley sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.31, for a total transaction of $87,930.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 19,279 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $565,067.49. The trade was a 13.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Richard S. Dennen sold 932 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.00, for a total value of $27,960.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 74,720 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,241,600. This trade represents a 1.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 11,700 shares of company stock worth $335,429 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 2.04% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of First Financial Bancorp.

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in First Financial Bancorp. by 1.5% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 67,175 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,707,000 after buying an additional 975 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,271,990 shares of the bank’s stock worth $57,333,000 after purchasing an additional 34,977 shares during the period. Barclays PLC increased its holdings in First Financial Bancorp. by 140.1% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 190,742 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $4,812,000 after purchasing an additional 111,309 shares during the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new stake in First Financial Bancorp. in the third quarter valued at approximately $334,000. Finally, iSAM Funds UK Ltd acquired a new position in First Financial Bancorp. during the third quarter worth $235,000. 77.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

First Financial Bancorp. Trading Down 1.6 %

NASDAQ:FFBC traded down $0.47 on Tuesday, hitting $28.84. The stock had a trading volume of 291,939 shares, compared to its average volume of 374,994. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $26.74 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $24.96. First Financial Bancorp. has a 1-year low of $20.59 and a 1-year high of $31.18. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The stock has a market cap of $2.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.43 and a beta of 1.01.

First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The bank reported $0.67 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.66 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $302.82 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $214.00 million. First Financial Bancorp. had a net margin of 18.55% and a return on equity of 10.32%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.67 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that First Financial Bancorp. will post 2.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

First Financial Bancorp. Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 2nd. First Financial Bancorp.’s dividend payout ratio is presently 41.38%.

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.