First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) Releases Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.05 EPS

First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday. The bank reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.05, Briefing.com reports. The business had revenue of $314.22 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $203.50 million. First Financial Bancorp. had a return on equity of 10.81% and a net margin of 19.67%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.72 earnings per share.

First Financial Bancorp. Trading Up 3.8 %

NASDAQ FFBC opened at $28.09 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. First Financial Bancorp. has a 1-year low of $17.23 and a 1-year high of $28.23. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $22.77 and its 200-day simple moving average is $22.44. The company has a market capitalization of $2.68 billion, a PE ratio of 11.33 and a beta of 1.01.

First Financial Bancorp. Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 30th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.42%. This is a positive change from First Financial Bancorp.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. First Financial Bancorp.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 37.10%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $24.00 target price on shares of First Financial Bancorp. in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th.

Insider Activity at First Financial Bancorp.

In other First Financial Bancorp. news, insider Richard S. Dennen sold 10,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.64, for a total value of $248,220.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 93,152 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,202,113.28. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 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.