Business
First Financial Bancorp Announces Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2023 Financial Results and Quarterly Dividend
Earnings per diluted share of $0.60; $0.62 on an adjusted(1) basisReturn on average assets of 1.31%; 1.37% on an adjusted(1) basisNet interest margin on FTE
About this update from First Financial Bancorp.
[{"type":"text","content":"Earnings per diluted share of $0.60; $0.62 on an adjusted(1) basisReturn on average assets of 1.31%; 1.37% on an adjusted(1) basisNet interest margin on FTE basis(1) of 4.26%; 7 bp decrease from linked quarterLoan growth of $286.4 million; 10.7% on an annualized basisAverage deposit balances increased 12.9% on an annualized basisCredit trends stable to improving in the quarterTangible Book Value increased $1.47, or 13.5% from linked quarterQuarterly dividend of $0.23 approved by Board of DirectorsCINCINNATI, Jan. 25, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- First Financial Bancorp. (Nasdaq: FFBC) (\"First Financial\" or the \"Company\") announced financial results for the three and twelve months ended December 31, 2023. \n\nFor the three months ended December 31, 2023, the Company reported net income of $56.7 million, or $0.60 per diluted common share. These results compare to net income of $63.1 million, or $0.66 per diluted common share, for the third quarter of 2023. For the twelve months ended December 31, 2023, First Financial had earnings per diluted share of $2.69 compared to $2.30 for the same period in 2022.\nReturn on average assets for the fourth quarter of 2023 was 1.31% while return on average tangible common equity was 21.36%(1). These compare to return on average assets of 1.48% and return on average tangible common equity of 23.60%(1) in the third quarter of 2023. \nFourth quarter 2023 highlights include:\nNet interest margin of 4.21%, or 4.26% on a fully tax-equivalent basis(1)7 bp decrease to 4.26% from 4.33% in the third quarter due to increasing funding costsHigher asset yields and earning asset mix significantly offset 31 bp increase in cost of depositsAverage deposit balances increased $415.7 million with growth in money market accounts, interest bearing checking accounts, retail CDs and brokered CD's offsetting declines in noninterest bearing checking and savings accountsNoninterest income of $47.0 million, or $47.6 million as adjusted(1)Bannockburn income of $8.7 million included $4.6 million loss on a trade; loss was offset by lower noninterest expensesStrong leasing business income of $12.9 millionHigher other noninterest income driven by increase in syndication feesAdjusted(1) $0.6 million for losses on investment securities and other items not expected to recurNoninterest expenses of $119.1 million, or $116.8 million as ...