First Foundation (NASDAQ:FFWM) Downgraded by Stephens

Stephens cut shares of First Foundation (NASDAQ:FFWM) from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating in a report published on Wednesday morning, Marketbeat.com reports.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Wedbush reissued a neutral rating and set a $7.00 price target on shares of First Foundation in a research note on Wednesday, May 22nd. DA Davidson raised shares of First Foundation from a neutral rating to a buy rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $8.00 to $9.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Raymond James lowered shares of First Foundation from a strong-buy rating to a market perform rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded First Foundation from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $8.00.

First Foundation Stock Performance

NASDAQ FFWM opened at $5.01 on Wednesday. First Foundation has a 52-week low of $3.69 and a 52-week high of $11.47. The company has a fifty day moving average of $5.82 and a 200-day moving average of $7.46. The company has a market capitalization of $282.83 million, a P/E ratio of -1.37 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.07.

First Foundation (NASDAQ:FFWM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The bank reported $0.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.01 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $51.07 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $58.93 million. First Foundation had a positive return on equity of 1.11% and a negative net margin of 32.44%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that First Foundation will post 0.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First Foundation Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 6th were issued a $0.01 dividend. This represents a $0.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.80%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 3rd. First Foundation’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -1.09%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On First Foundation

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Boston Partners purchased a new stake in First Foundation in the first quarter worth $128,000. Kennedy Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of First Foundation in the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,731,000. Caxton Associates LP bought a new position in shares of First Foundation in the 1st quarter worth approximately $123,000. Quadrature Capital Ltd lifted its stake in shares of First Foundation by 77.3% in the 1st quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 23,119 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $174,000 after purchasing an additional 10,076 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of First Foundation by 1.1% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,859,870 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $21,592,000 after purchasing an additional 31,026 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.10% of the company’s stock.

First Foundation Company Profile

First Foundation Inc, through its subsidiaries, provides banking services, investment advisory, wealth management, and trust services to individuals, businesses, and other organizations in the United States. The company operates in two segments, Banking and Wealth Management. It offers a range of deposit products, including personal and business checking accounts, savings accounts, interest-bearing demand deposit accounts, money market accounts, and time certificate of deposits; and loan products consisting of multifamily and single family residential real estate loans, commercial real estate loans, commercial term loans, and line of credits, as well as consumer loans, such as personal installment loans and line of credits, and home equity line of credits.