FIRST FINANCIAL CORP /IN/ 10-K

ITEM 5. MARKET FOR REGISTRANT’S COMMON EQUITY, RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS AND ISSUER PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES. MARKET AND DIVIDEND INFORMATION (a) As of March 1, 2024 shareholders owned 11,814,093 shares of the Corporation’s common stock. The stock is traded on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol “THFF”. On March 1, 2024, approximately 9,635 shareholders of record held our common stock. Historically, the Corporation paid cash dividends semi-annually. Beginning with the dividend declared in the fourth quarter 2023, the Corporation will be paying cash dividends quarterly, and expects that comparable cash dividends will continue to be paid in the future. The following table gives quarterly high and low trade prices and dividends per share during each quarter for 2023 and 2022. ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ 2023 2022 ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Cash ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Cash ​ ​ Trade Price ​ Dividends ​ Trade Price ​ Dividends Quarter ended High Low Declared High Low Declared March 31 ​ $ 45.36 ​ $ 36.98 ​ ​ ​ ​ $ 46.75 ​ $ 43.09 ​ ​ ​ June 30 ​ $ 37.15 ​ $ 31.68 ​ $ 0.54 ​ $ 45.16 ​ $ 41.42 ​ $ 0.54 September 30 ​ $ 39.02 ​ $ 32.30 ​ ​ ​ ​ $ 48.76 ​ $ 42.94 ​ ​ ​ December 31 ​ $ 44.66 ​ $ 31.83 ​ $ 0.45 ​ $ 49.26 ​ $ 44.82 ​ $ 0.74 ​ ​ 32 Table of Contents The graph below represents the five-year total return of the Corporation’s stock. The five year total return for our stock during this time was 23.83%. During this same period, the return on The Russell 2000 Index was 60.85% and the SNL Index of Banks $1 - $5 Billion had a return of 30.91%. ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Period Ending ​ ​ Index 12/31/2018 12/31/2019 12/31/2020 12/31/2021 12/31/2022 12/31/2023 First Financial Corporation 100.00 116.79 101.91 121.74 127.16 123.83 Russell 2000 100.00 125.53 150.58 172.90 137.56 160.85 SNL Bank $1B-$5B 100.00 127.64 118.58 165.90 141.42 130.91 ​ (b) Not applicable. (c) The Corporation periodically acquires shares of its common stock directly from shareholders in individually negotiated transactions. On February 3, 2016 First Financial Corporation issued a press release announcing that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program pursuant to which up to 5% of the Corporation’s outstanding shares of common stock, or 637,500 shares may be repurchased. On October 29, 2020 First Financial Corporation issued a press release announcing that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program pursuant to which up to 5% of the Corporation’s outstanding shares of common stock, or 685,726 shares may be repurchased. On July 21, 2021 First Financial Corporation issued a press release announcing that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program pursuant to which up to 5% of the Corporation’s outstanding shares of common stock, or 652,411 shares may be repurchased. On April 21, 2022 First Financial Corporation issued a press release announcing that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program pursuant to which up to 10% of the Corporation’s outstanding shares of common stock, or 1,243,531 shares may be repurchased. There were 319,664 and 626,574 purchases of common stock by the Corporation during the years ended December 31, 2023 and December 31, 2022. The Corporation contributed 40,496 shares of treasury stock to the ESOP 33 Table of Contents in November of 2023. There were no shares of common stock purchased by the Corporation during the fourth quarter of the fiscal year covered by this report. Following is certain information regarding shares of common stock purchased by the Corporation during the quarter ended December 31, 2023. ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ (c) ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Total Number Of Shares ​ (c) ​ ​ (a) ​ (b) ​ Purchased As Part Of ​ Maximum ​ ​ Total Number Of ​ Average Price ​ Publicly Announced Plans ​ Number of Shares That May Yet ​ Shares Purchased Paid Per Share ​ Or Programs * Be Purchased * October 1-31, 2023 ​ — ​ — ​ — ​ — November 1-30, 2023 — ​ — — — December 1-31, 2023 — ​ — — — Total — ​ — — 518,860 ​ ​ ITEM 6. SELECTED FINANCIAL DATA FIVE YEAR COMPARISON OF SELECTED FINANCIAL DATA ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ (Dollar amounts in thousands, except per share amounts) 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 BALANCE SHEET DATA ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Total assets ​ $ 4,851,146 ​ $ 4,989,281 ​ $ 5,175,099 ​ $ 4,560,520 ​ $ 4,023,250 ​ Securities ​ 1,259,137 ​ 1,330,481 ​ 1,359,514 ​ 1,020,744 ​ 926,717 ​ Loans ​ 3,167,821 ​ 3,067,438 ​ 2,815,895 ​ 2,610,294 ​ 2,656,390 ​ Deposits ​ 4,090,068 ​ 4,368,871 ​ 4,409,569 ​ 3,755,945 ​ 3,275,357 ​ Borrowings ​ 175,798 ​ 80,464 ​ 109,311 ​ 121,920 ​ 111,092 ​ Shareholders’ equity ​ 527,976 ​ 475,293 ​ 582,576 ​ 596,992 ​ 557,608 ​ INCOME STATEMENT DATA ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Interest income ​ 228,397 ​ 183,301 ​ 152,198 ​ 160,485 ​ 149,121 ​ Interest expense ​ 61,135 ​ 18,259 ​ 8,797 ​ 14,139 ​ 17,469 ​ Net interest income ​ 167,262 ​ 165,042 ​ 143,401 ​ 146,346 ​ 131,652 ​ Provision for credit losses ​ 7,295 ​ (2,025) ​ 2,466 ​ 10,528 ​ 4,700 ​ Other income ​ 42,702 ​ 46,716 ​ 42,084 ​ 42,476 ​ 38,452 ​ Other expenses ​ 130,176 ​ 126,023 ​ 117,406 ​ 112,758 ​ 104,405 ​ Net income ​ 60,672 ​ 71,109 ​ 52,987 ​ 53,844 ​ 48,872 ​ PER SHARE DATA: ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Net Income ​ 5.08 ​ 5.82 ​ 4.02 ​ 3.93 ​ 3.80 ​ Cash dividends ​ 1.28 ​ 1.17 ​ 1.06 ​ 1.04 ​ 1.03 ​ PERFORMANCE RATIOS: ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Return on average assets ​ 1.26 % 1.41 % 1.10 % 1.25 % 1.42 % Return on average shareholders’ equity ​ 12.47 ​ 14.37 ​ 8.87 ​ 9.07 ​ 9.83 ​ Average total capital to average assets ​ 10.95 ​ 10.64 ​ 13.36 ​ 14.31 ​ 15.05 ​ Average shareholders’ equity to average assets ​ 10.13 ​ 9.81 ​ 12.41 ​ 13.77 ​ 14.46 ​ Dividend payout ​ 19.41 ​ 21.68 ​ 28.22 ​ 26.58 ​ 27.69 ​ ​ ​ 34 Table of Contents