CINCINNATI (AP) _ First Financial Bancorp (FFBC) on Thursday reported fourth-quarter net income of $69.1 million.

The Cincinnati-based bank said it had earnings of 73 cents per share.

The results beat Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of three analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 68 cents per share.

The holding company for First Financial Bank posted revenue of $245.9 million in the period. Its revenue net of interest expense was $215.5 million, also topping Street forecasts. Three analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $199.8 million.

For the year, the company reported profit of $217.6 million, or $2.30 per share. Revenue was reported as $715.1 million.

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

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