CINCINNATI (AP) _ First Financial Bancorp (FFBC) on Thursday reported fourth-quarter net income of $48.7 million.

The Cincinnati-based bank said it had earnings of 49 cents per share. Earnings, adjusted for costs related to mergers and acquisitions, were 52 cents per share.

The holding company for First Financial Bank posted revenue of $184.4 million in the period. Its revenue net of interest expense was $155.7 million, beating Street forecasts.

For the year, the company reported profit of $198.1 million, or $2 per share. Revenue was reported as $615.6 million.

First Financial shares have fallen slightly more than 2% since the beginning of the year. In the final minutes of trading on Thursday, shares hit $24.85, a decline of 4% in the last 12 months.

This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on FFBC at https://www.zacks.com/ap/FFBC

Automated Insights, source Associated Press News