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

First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC - Get Free Report) announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday. The bank reported $0.71 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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

Shares of NASDAQ:FFBC traded up $0.04 on Thursday, reaching $27.99. 474,914 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 453,294. The company has a fifty day moving average of $28.10 and a 200-day moving average of $26.43. 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 $2.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.06 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FFBC has been the topic of a number of research reports. Stephens upgraded shares of First Financial Bancorp. from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of 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.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Scott T. Crawley sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.31, for a total value of $87,930.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 19,279 shares of the company's stock, valued at $565,067.49. This represents a 13.47 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider James R. Shank sold 3,700 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.34, for a total transaction of $97,458.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 15,374 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $404,951.16. The trade was a 19.40 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 11,700 shares of company stock worth $335,429 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 2.04% of the company's stock.

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.

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