First Financial Bancorp. Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.24 (NASDAQ:FFBC)

First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, October 24th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd will be given a dividend of 0.24 per share by the bank on Monday, December 16th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.78%.

First Financial Bancorp. has a dividend payout ratio of 39.8% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect First Financial Bancorp. to earn $2.53 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.96 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 37.9%.

First Financial Bancorp. Stock Down 0.2 %

NASDAQ FFBC opened at $25.43 on Friday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $25.37 and its 200-day simple moving average is $23.84. The company has a quick ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The firm has a market cap of $2.43 billion, a PE ratio of 10.25 and a beta of 0.99. First Financial Bancorp. has a 52 week low of $17.23 and a 52 week high of $28.25.

First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The bank reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.05. First Financial Bancorp. had a net margin of 19.67% and a return on equity of 10.69%. The company had revenue of $314.22 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $203.50 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.72 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that First Financial Bancorp. will post 2.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Claude E. Davis sold 29,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.60, for a total value of $771,400.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 53,576 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,425,121.60. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 2.04% of the company’s stock.

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.