Independent Non-Executive Chairman of the Board Of First Financial Bancorp Sold 35% Of Their Shares

We wouldn't blame First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) shareholders if they were a little worried about the fact that Claude Davis, the Independent Non-Executive Chairman of the Board recently netted about US$771k selling shares at an average price of US$26.60. That's a big disposal, and it decreased their holding size by 35%, which is notable but not too bad.

Check out our latest analysis for First Financial Bancorp

First Financial Bancorp Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

Notably, that recent sale by Claude Davis is the biggest insider sale of First Financial Bancorp shares that we've seen in the last year. That means that an insider was selling shares at around the current price of US$26.47. We generally don't like to see insider selling, but the lower the sale price, the more it concerns us. We note that this sale took place at around the current price, so it isn't a major concern, though it's hardly a good sign.

Insiders in First Financial Bancorp didn't buy any shares in the last year. You can see the insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year depicted in the chart below. If you click on the chart, you can see all the individual transactions, including the share price, individual, and the date!

I will like First Financial Bancorp better if I see some big insider buys. While we wait, check out this free list of undervalued and small cap stocks with considerable, recent, insider buying.

Insider Ownership

Many investors like to check how much of a company is owned by insiders. I reckon it's a good sign if insiders own a significant number of shares in the company. First Financial Bancorp insiders own about US$57m worth of shares. That equates to 2.3% of the company. While this is a strong but not outstanding level of insider ownership, it's enough to indicate some alignment between management and smaller shareholders.

So What Does This Data Suggest About First Financial Bancorp Insiders?

Insiders haven't bought First Financial Bancorp stock in the last three months, but there was some selling. And even if we look at the last year, we didn't see any purchases. Insiders own shares, but we're still pretty cautious, given the history of sales. So we'd only buy after careful consideration. In addition to knowing about insider transactions going on, it's beneficial to identify the risks facing First Financial Bancorp. You'd be interested to know, that we found 2 warning signs for First Financial Bancorp and we suggest you have a look.

If you would prefer to check out another company -- one with potentially superior financials -- then do not miss this free list of interesting companies, that have HIGH return on equity and low debt.

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.