Royce & Associates LP Raises Holdings in First Financial Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIN)

Royce & Associates LP increased its position in shares of First Financial Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIN) by 45.8% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 185,141 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 58,124 shares during the period. Royce & Associates LP’s holdings in First Financial Bankshares were worth $6,674,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in FFIN. Intech Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in First Financial Bankshares during the 3rd quarter valued at about $673,000. State Street Corp increased its holdings in First Financial Bankshares by 4.7% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,222,092 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $231,381,000 after buying an additional 281,166 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc. increased its holdings in First Financial Bankshares by 27.0% during the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 250,553 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $9,273,000 after buying an additional 53,195 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in First Financial Bankshares by 37.5% during the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 613,381 shares of the bank’s stock worth $22,701,000 after buying an additional 167,433 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in First Financial Bankshares by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,701,180 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $62,961,000 after acquiring an additional 62,538 shares in the last quarter. 69.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on First Financial Bankshares from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th.

First Financial Bankshares Stock Down 0.4 %

NASDAQ:FFIN opened at $35.60 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $36.89 and a 200 day moving average of $37.73. First Financial Bankshares, Inc. has a 52 week low of $27.62 and a 52 week high of $44.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.82 and a beta of 0.78.

First Financial Bankshares (NASDAQ:FFIN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 23rd. The bank reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by $0.03. First Financial Bankshares had a return on equity of 14.24% and a net margin of 29.69%. As a group, analysts expect that First Financial Bankshares, Inc. will post 1.78 EPS for the current year.

First Financial Bankshares Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.02%. First Financial Bankshares’s payout ratio is 46.15%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Johnny Trotter bought 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were bought at an average price of $35.12 per share, with a total value of $210,720.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 949,371 shares in the company, valued at approximately $33,341,909.52. This trade represents a 0.64 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 4.22% of the company’s stock.

First Financial Bankshares Profile

First Financial Bankshares, Inc, through its subsidiaries, provides commercial banking products and services in Texas. The company offers checking, savings and time deposits; automated teller machines, drive-in, and night deposit services; safe deposit facilities, remote deposit capture, internet banking, mobile banking, payroll cards, funds transfer, and performing other customary commercial banking services; securities brokerage services; and trust and wealth management services, including wealth management, estates administration, oil and gas management, testamentary trusts, revocable and irrevocable trusts, and agency accounts.