FFBC vs. SSB, WBS, CBSH, WAL, PNFP, CFR, UMBF, WTFC, ZION, and BPOP
Should you be buying First Financial Bancorp. stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of First Financial Bancorp. include SouthState (SSB), Webster Financial (WBS), Commerce Bancshares (CBSH), Western Alliance Bancorporation (WAL), Pinnacle Financial Partners (PNFP), Cullen/Frost Bankers (CFR), UMB Financial (UMBF), Wintrust Financial (WTFC), Zions Bancorporation, National Association (ZION), and Popular (BPOP). These companies are all part of the "regional banks" industry.
First Financial Bancorp. vs.
SouthState (NASDAQ:SSB) and First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) are both mid-cap finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, media sentiment, valuation, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, community ranking, profitability, risk and earnings.
89.8% of SouthState shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 77.2% of First Financial Bancorp. shares are held by institutional investors. 1.7% of SouthState shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 2.0% of First Financial Bancorp. shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.
In the previous week, SouthState had 13 more articles in the media than First Financial Bancorp.. MarketBeat recorded 15 mentions for SouthState and 2 mentions for First Financial Bancorp.. SouthState's average media sentiment score of 1.33 beat First Financial Bancorp.'s score of 0.80 indicating that SouthState is being referred to more favorably in the media.
SouthState pays an annual dividend of $2.16 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.5%. First Financial Bancorp. pays an annual dividend of $0.96 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.0%. SouthState pays out 34.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. First Financial Bancorp. pays out 39.8% 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. SouthState has raised its dividend for 13 consecutive years and First Financial Bancorp. has raised its dividend for 1 consecutive years.
SouthState has a beta of 0.75, meaning that its stock price is 25% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, First Financial Bancorp. has a beta of 0.94, meaning that its stock price is 6% less volatile than the S&P 500.
SouthState presently has a consensus price target of $116.27, suggesting a potential upside of 32.31%. First Financial Bancorp. has a consensus price target of $29.25, suggesting a potential upside of 20.77%. Given SouthState's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe SouthState is more favorable than First Financial Bancorp..
SouthState has a net margin of 22.38% compared to First Financial Bancorp.'s net margin of 18.67%. First Financial Bancorp.'s return on equity of 10.52% beat SouthState's return on equity.
SouthState has higher revenue and earnings than First Financial Bancorp.. First Financial Bancorp. is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than SouthState, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
SouthState received 236 more outperform votes than First Financial Bancorp. when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 62.01% of users gave SouthState an outperform vote while only 46.14% of users gave First Financial Bancorp. an outperform vote.
Summary
SouthState beats First Financial Bancorp. on 17 of the 22 factors compared between the two stocks.
Get First Financial Bancorp. News Delivered to You Automatically
Sign up to receive the latest news and ratings for FFBC and its competitors with MarketBeat's FREE daily newsletter.
New MarketBeat Followers Over Time
This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding {thisCompany.Symbol} and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period.
Media Sentiment Over Time
This chart shows the average media sentiment of NASDAQ and its competitors over the past 90 days as caculated by MarketBeat. The averaged score is equivalent to the following: Very Negative Sentiment <= -1.5, Negative Sentiment > -1.5 and <= -0.5, Neutral Sentiment > -0.5 and < 0.5, Positive Sentiment >= 0.5 and < 1.5, and Very Positive Sentiment >= 1.5.
First Financial Bancorp. Competitors List
Related Companies and Tools
This page (NASDAQ:FFBC) was last updated on 5/22/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff
Buy FFBC Stock Free FFBC Stock Alerts