First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Posted by Stanley Muller on Jul 10th, 2026

First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC – Get Free Report) has earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eight research firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $33.3333.

A number of research firms recently issued reports on FFBC. Wall Street Zen lowered First Financial Bancorp. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on First Financial Bancorp. from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of First Financial Bancorp. in a report on Monday, June 8th. Raymond James Financial raised their target price on First Financial Bancorp. from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. Finally, Stephens assumed coverage on First Financial Bancorp. in a research note on Friday, March 27th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $33.00 target price on the stock.

Check Out Our Latest Report on First Financial Bancorp.

First Financial Bancorp. Trading Up 1.9%

NASDAQ FFBC opened at $34.01 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.84. First Financial Bancorp. has a 12 month low of $23.06 and a 12 month high of $35.00. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $31.55 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $29.23. The company has a market capitalization of $3.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.02 and a beta of 0.92.

First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 23rd. The bank reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.70 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $265.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $257.97 million. First Financial Bancorp. had a return on equity of 11.09% and a net margin of 20.92%.During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.63 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that First Financial Bancorp. will post 3.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

First Financial Bancorp. Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 1st were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 1st. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. First Financial Bancorp.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.34%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO James M. Anderson sold 4,263 shares of First Financial Bancorp. stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.00, for a total value of $127,890.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 118,537 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,556,110. The trade was a 3.47% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Claude E. Davis sold 26,123 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.45, for a total value of $795,445.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 30,410 shares in the company, valued at $925,984.50. This represents a 46.21% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 41,126 shares of company stock valued at $1,255,501 over the last three months. Company insiders own 1.08% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On First Financial Bancorp.

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of First Financial Bancorp. during the 4th quarter valued at $936,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,309,205 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $32,756,000 after acquiring an additional 42,116 shares in the last quarter. Maltese Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 171.4% in the third quarter. Maltese Capital Management LLC now owns 142,500 shares of the bank’s stock worth $3,598,000 after acquiring an additional 90,000 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its stake in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 174.7% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 72,244 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,808,000 after acquiring an additional 45,943 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of First Financial Bancorp. by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,929,185 shares of the bank’s stock worth $273,448,000 after acquiring an additional 215,357 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.23% of the company’s stock.

About First Financial Bancorp.

(Get Free Report)

First Financial Bancorp (NASDAQ: FFBC) is a bank holding company headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, and the parent of First Financial Bank. The company provides a comprehensive suite of commercial and consumer banking services through a network of more than 100 full-service banking centers and mortgage offices across Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky. Its core mission centers on delivering personalized relationship banking to businesses, individuals and public sector clients.

First Financial Bank’s product portfolio includes deposit solutions such as checking, savings and money market accounts, alongside a range of lending offerings that cover commercial and industrial loans, real estate and construction financing, home mortgages and home equity lines of credit.