First Financial Bancorp. (FFBC) Competitors

Simmons First National (NASDAQ:SFNC) and First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) are both mid-cap finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their media sentiment, valuation, community ranking, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, dividends, profitability, earnings and risk.

Is SFNC or FFBC a better dividend stock?

Simmons First National pays an annual dividend of $0.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.6%. First Financial Bancorp. pays an annual dividend of $0.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.9%. Simmons First National pays out 63.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. First Financial Bancorp. pays out 37.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Simmons First National has increased its dividend for 13 consecutive years. Simmons First National is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Which has better valuation and earnings, SFNC or FFBC?

First Financial Bancorp. has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Simmons First National. First Financial Bancorp. is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Simmons First National, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Simmons First National	$1.37B	1.69	$175.06M	$1.33	13.86
First Financial Bancorp.	$820.58M	2.75	$255.86M	$2.48	9.54

Is SFNC or FFBC more profitable?

First Financial Bancorp. has a net margin of 20.74% compared to First Financial Bancorp.'s net margin of 11.97%. Simmons First National's return on equity of 11.22% beat First Financial Bancorp.'s return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Simmons First National	11.97%	5.94%	0.73%
First Financial Bancorp.	20.74%	11.22%	1.43%

Do analysts rate SFNC or FFBC?

Simmons First National presently has a consensus price target of $21.00, indicating a potential upside of 13.94%. First Financial Bancorp. has a consensus price target of $24.67, indicating a potential upside of 4.25%. Given First Financial Bancorp.'s higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe Simmons First National is more favorable than First Financial Bancorp..

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Simmons First National	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00
First Financial Bancorp.	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.33

Which has more volatility and risk, SFNC or FFBC?

Simmons First National has a beta of 0.9, meaning that its share price is 10% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, First Financial Bancorp. has a beta of 1.04, meaning that its share price is 4% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Do insiders and institutionals hold more shares of SFNC or FFBC?

27.6% of Simmons First National shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 77.2% of First Financial Bancorp. shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.9% of Simmons First National shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 2.0% of First Financial Bancorp. shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Does the media prefer SFNC or FFBC?

In the previous week, First Financial Bancorp. had 4 more articles in the media than Simmons First National. MarketBeat recorded 8 mentions for First Financial Bancorp. and 4 mentions for Simmons First National. First Financial Bancorp.'s average media sentiment score of 1.22 beat Simmons First National's score of 0.60 indicating that Simmons First National is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Simmons First National	3 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
First Financial Bancorp.	3 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Does the MarketBeat Community favor SFNC or FFBC?

First Financial Bancorp. received 4 more outperform votes than Simmons First National when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 48.47% of users gave Simmons First National an outperform vote while only 46.59% of users gave First Financial Bancorp. an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Simmons First National	Outperform Votes 269 48.47%	Underperform Votes 286 51.53%
First Financial Bancorp.	Outperform Votes 273 46.59%	Underperform Votes 313 53.41%

Summary

First Financial Bancorp. beats Simmons First National on 14 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.