Could The First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) Ownership Structure Tell Us Something Useful?
The big shareholder groups in First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) have power over the company. Generally speaking, as a company grows, institutions will increase their ownership. Conversely, insiders often decrease their ownership over time. Companies that used to be publicly owned tend to have lower insider ownership.
First Financial Bancorp isn't enormous, but it's not particularly small either. It has a market capitalization of US$1.9b, which means it would generally expect to see some institutions on the share registry. In the chart below, we can see that institutions own shares in the company. We can zoom in on the different ownership groups, to learn more about First Financial Bancorp.
See our latest analysis for First Financial Bancorp
What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About First Financial Bancorp?
Many institutions measure their performance against an index that approximates the local market. So they usually pay more attention to companies that are included in major indices.
First Financial Bancorp already has institutions on the share registry. Indeed, they own a respectable stake in the company. This can indicate that the company has a certain degree of credibility in the investment community. However, it is best to be wary of relying on the supposed validation that comes with institutional investors. They too, get it wrong sometimes. It is not uncommon to see a big share price drop if two large institutional investors try to sell out of a stock at the same time. So it is worth checking the past earnings trajectory of First Financial Bancorp, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.
Since institutional investors own more than half the issued stock, the board will likely have to pay attention to their preferences. We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in First Financial Bancorp. BlackRock, Inc. is currently the largest shareholder, with 15% of shares outstanding. For context, the second largest shareholder holds about 11% of the shares outstanding, followed by an ownership of 6.4% by the third-largest shareholder.
We also observed that the top 8 shareholders account for more than half of the share register, with a few smaller shareholders to balance the interests of the larger ones to a certain extent.
While studying institutional ownership for a company can add value to your research, it is also a good practice to research analyst recommendations to get a deeper understand of a stock's expected performance. There are plenty of analysts covering the stock, so it might be worth seeing what they are forecasting, too.
Insider Ownership Of First Financial Bancorp
While the precise definition of an insider can be subjective, almost everyone considers board members to be insiders. Management ultimately answers to the board. However, it is not uncommon for managers to be executive board members, especially if they are a founder or the CEO.
Most consider insider ownership a positive because it can indicate the board is well aligned with other shareholders. However, on some occasions too much power is concentrated within this group.
We can see that insiders own shares in First Financial Bancorp.. It is a pretty big company, so it is generally a positive to see some potentially meaningful alignment. In this case, they own around US$40m worth of shares (at current prices). It is good to see this level of investment by insiders. You can check here to see if those insiders have been buying recently.
General Public Ownership
The general public, who are usually individual investors, hold a 23% stake in First Financial Bancorp. While this group can't necessarily call the shots, it can certainly have a real influence on how the company is run.
Next Steps:
I find it very interesting to look at who exactly owns a company. But to truly gain insight, we need to consider other information, too. Take risks for example - First Financial Bancorp has 1 warning sign we think you should be aware of.
If you would prefer discover what analysts are predicting in terms of future growth, do not miss this free report on analyst forecasts.
NB: Figures in this article are calculated using data from the last twelve months, which refer to the 12-month period ending on the last date of the month the financial statement is dated. This may not be consistent with full year annual report figures.
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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.
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