Valeo Financial Advisors LLC Cuts Stock Position in First Financial Co. (NASDAQ:THFF)

Valeo Financial Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in First Financial Co. (NASDAQ:THFF) by 2.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 30,567 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 830 shares during the period. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC owned 0.26% of First Financial worth $1,172,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of First Financial by 5.8% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 703,304 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $30,264,000 after acquiring an additional 38,360 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of First Financial by 24.0% in the 4th quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 35,943 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,547,000 after acquiring an additional 6,963 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its stake in First Financial by 189.3% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 12,895 shares of the bank’s stock worth $555,000 after purchasing an additional 8,438 shares during the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lifted its stake in First Financial by 1,184.3% in the third quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 13,048 shares of the bank’s stock worth $441,000 after purchasing an additional 12,032 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG lifted its stake in First Financial by 4.6% in the third quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 16,293 shares of the bank’s stock worth $551,000 after purchasing an additional 717 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.74% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $43.00 price objective (down previously from $45.00) on shares of First Financial in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st.

First Financial Trading Down 1.5 %

NASDAQ THFF traded down $0.54 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $36.52. The stock had a trading volume of 25,816 shares, compared to its average volume of 45,822. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 0.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $431.30 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.90 and a beta of 0.48. First Financial Co. has a one year low of $31.74 and a one year high of $44.91. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $36.85 and a 200 day simple moving average of $38.19.

First Financial (NASDAQ:THFF) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The bank reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.99 by ($0.06). The company had revenue of $48.35 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $49.75 million. First Financial had a net margin of 20.16% and a return on equity of 11.04%. Sell-side analysts predict that First Financial Co. will post 4.49 earnings per share for the current year.

First Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 1st will be issued a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, July 1st. First Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 38.38%.

About First Financial

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.