First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) Posts Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.06 EPS

First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday. The bank reported $0.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.65 by $0.06, Zacks reports. First Financial Bancorp. had a net margin of 18.55% and a return on equity of 10.32%.

First Financial Bancorp. Stock Performance

First Financial Bancorp. stock opened at $27.73 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $28.05 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $26.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. First Financial Bancorp. has a twelve month low of $20.59 and a twelve month high of $31.18. The company has a market capitalization of $2.65 billion, a PE ratio of 11.95 and a beta of 1.02.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Scott T. Crawley sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the insider now owns 19,279 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $565,067.49. This represents a 13.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Richard S. Dennen sold 932 shares of First Financial Bancorp. stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.00, for a total transaction of $27,960.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 74,720 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,241,600. The trade was a 1.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 11,700 shares of company stock valued at $335,429. 2.04% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on FFBC. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on First Financial Bancorp. from $28.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $33.00 price objective on shares of First Financial Bancorp. in a report on Friday.

About First Financial Bancorp.

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.