F.N.B. (FNB) Competitors

First Financial Bancorp. (NASDAQ:FFBC) and F.N.B. (NYSE:FNB) are both mid-cap finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, analyst recommendations, earnings, media sentiment, dividends, profitability, risk and institutional ownership.

Do analysts prefer FFBC or FNB?

First Financial Bancorp. presently has a consensus target price of $29.83, indicating a potential upside of 16.31%. F.N.B. has a consensus target price of $18.64, indicating a potential upside of 15.69%. Given First Financial Bancorp.'s higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe First Financial Bancorp. is more favorable than F.N.B..

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
First Financial Bancorp.	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.57
F.N.B.	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	8 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

Do institutionals and insiders believe in FFBC or FNB?

77.2% of First Financial Bancorp. shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 79.3% of F.N.B. shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.1% of First Financial Bancorp. shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.4% of F.N.B. shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has more volatility & risk, FFBC or FNB?

First Financial Bancorp. has a beta of 0.96, suggesting that its share price is 4% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, F.N.B. has a beta of 0.94, suggesting that its share price is 6% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is FFBC or FNB a better dividend stock?

First Financial Bancorp. pays an annual dividend of $1.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.9%. F.N.B. pays an annual dividend of $0.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.0%. First Financial Bancorp. pays out 40.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. F.N.B. pays out 37.5% 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. First Financial Bancorp. has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years. First Financial Bancorp. is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Is FFBC or FNB more profitable?

First Financial Bancorp. has a net margin of 19.41% compared to F.N.B.'s net margin of 17.88%. First Financial Bancorp.'s return on equity of 10.57% beat F.N.B.'s return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
First Financial Bancorp.	19.41%	10.57%	1.42%
F.N.B.	17.88%	7.94%	1.04%

Does the media refer more to FFBC or FNB?

In the previous week, F.N.B. had 3 more articles in the media than First Financial Bancorp.. MarketBeat recorded 8 mentions for F.N.B. and 5 mentions for First Financial Bancorp.. First Financial Bancorp.'s average media sentiment score of 0.87 beat F.N.B.'s score of 0.38 indicating that First Financial Bancorp. is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
First Financial Bancorp.	1 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
F.N.B.	2 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Which has better earnings & valuation, FFBC or FNB?

F.N.B. has higher revenue and earnings than First Financial Bancorp.. First Financial Bancorp. is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than F.N.B., 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
First Financial Bancorp.	$1.62B	1.52	$228.83M	$2.50	10.26
F.N.B.	$2.57B	2.25	$465M	$1.28	12.59

Summary

F.N.B. beats First Financial Bancorp. on 10 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.