Chairman of the Board Claude Davis Sold A Bunch Of Shares In First Financial Bancorp

Some First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) shareholders may be a little concerned to see that the Chairman of the Board, Claude Davis, recently sold a substantial US$795k worth of stock at a price of US$30.45 per share. That sale reduced their total holding by 46% which is hardly insignificant, but far from the worst we've seen.

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First Financial Bancorp Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

In fact, the recent sale by Claude Davis was the biggest sale of First Financial Bancorp shares made by an insider individual in the last twelve months, according to our records. So we know that an insider sold shares at around the present share price of US$30.41. While insider selling is a negative, to us, it is more negative if the shares are sold at a lower price. In this case, the big sale took place at around the current price, so it's not too bad (but it's still not a positive).

First Financial Bancorp insiders didn't buy any shares over the last year. You can see the insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year depicted in the chart below. If you want to know exactly who sold, for how much, and when, simply click on the graph below!

Check out our latest analysis for First Financial Bancorp

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Does First Financial Bancorp Boast High Insider Ownership?

I like to look at how many shares insiders own in a company, to help inform my view of how aligned they are with insiders. Usually, the higher the insider ownership, the more likely it is that insiders will be incentivised to build the company for the long term. First Financial Bancorp insiders own about US$37m worth of shares. That equates to 1.2% of the company. We've certainly seen higher levels of insider ownership elsewhere, but these holdings are enough to suggest alignment between insiders and the other shareholders.

So What Do The First Financial Bancorp Insider Transactions Indicate?

Insiders sold stock recently, but they haven't been buying. And there weren't any purchases to give us comfort, over the last year. But since First Financial Bancorp is profitable and growing, we're not too worried by this. Insiders own shares, but we're still pretty cautious, given the history of sales. We're in no rush to buy! So while it's helpful to know what insiders are doing in terms of buying or selling, it's also helpful to know the risks that a particular company is facing. For example - First Financial Bancorp has 1 warning sign we think you should be aware of.

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For the purposes of this article, insiders are those individuals who report their transactions to the relevant regulatory body. We currently account for open market transactions and private dispositions of direct interests only, but not derivative transactions or indirect interests.

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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.