First Financial Co. (NASDAQ:THFF) Shares Purchased by Barclays PLC

Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in shares of First Financial Co. (NASDAQ:THFF - Free Report) by 62.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 37,457 shares of the bank's stock after buying an additional 14,349 shares during the quarter. Barclays PLC owned approximately 0.32% of First Financial worth $1,643,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of THFF. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of First Financial by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 273,544 shares of the bank's stock valued at $11,997,000 after acquiring an additional 4,743 shares during the period. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new position in First Financial in the third quarter valued at about $279,000. Dean Investment Associates LLC bought a new position in First Financial in the third quarter worth about $2,856,000. Jane Street Group LLC lifted its position in shares of First Financial by 18.6% during the third quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 13,704 shares of the bank's stock valued at $601,000 after buying an additional 2,154 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC bought a new stake in shares of First Financial in the 3rd quarter valued at about $230,000. Institutional investors own 72.74% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Raymond James upgraded shares of First Financial from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $54.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th.

First Financial Stock Down 2.8 %

Shares of First Financial stock traded down $1.26 during trading on Friday, reaching $43.45. The company's stock had a trading volume of 49,104 shares, compared to its average volume of 37,517. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $47.90 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $44.35. First Financial Co. has a 1-year low of $34.58 and a 1-year high of $51.87. The company has a market cap of $513.06 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.78 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05.

First Financial (NASDAQ:THFF - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The bank reported $0.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.91 by ($0.17). The company had revenue of $82.92 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $57.95 million. First Financial had a net margin of 14.86% and a return on equity of 8.10%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that First Financial Co. will post 3.92 earnings per share for the current year.

First Financial Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be issued a $0.51 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.70%. This is a boost from First Financial's previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. First Financial's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 55.28%.

First Financial Company Profile

First Financial Corporation, through its subsidiaries, provides various financial services. The company offers non-interest-bearing demand, interest-bearing demand, savings, time, and other time deposits. It also provides commercial loans primarily to expand a business or finance asset purchases; residential real estate and residential real estate construction loans; and home equity loans and lines, secured loans, and cash/CD secured and unsecured loans.