Stephens Downgrades First Foundation (NASDAQ:FFWM) to Hold

First Foundation (NASDAQ:FFWM) was downgraded by investment analysts at Stephens from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued on Tuesday, Zacks.com reports.

Other analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Wedbush cut their price target on First Foundation from $6.00 to $5.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 3rd. StockNews.com lowered shares of First Foundation from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Raymond James downgraded shares of First Foundation from a “strong-buy” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 3rd. DA Davidson raised shares of First Foundation from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $8.00 to $9.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 3rd. Finally, Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating and set a $6.00 target price on shares of First Foundation in a research note on Wednesday, July 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $7.80.

First Foundation Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:FFWM opened at $5.95 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $336.25 million, a PE ratio of -1.63 and a beta of 1.33. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $6.52 and its 200-day moving average price is $6.32. First Foundation has a twelve month low of $4.41 and a twelve month high of $11.47.

First Foundation (NASDAQ:FFWM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The bank reported $0.06 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.01 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $164.57 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $54.23 million. First Foundation had a net margin of 1.34% and a return on equity of 1.07%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.07 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that First Foundation will post -0.06 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On First Foundation

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its holdings in First Foundation by 8.5% in the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 20,759 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $136,000 after acquiring an additional 1,632 shares during the last quarter. Riverview Trust Co bought a new stake in shares of First Foundation in the first quarter worth about $25,000. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its position in shares of First Foundation by 8.2% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 46,380 shares of the bank’s stock worth $350,000 after buying an additional 3,500 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC lifted its position in shares of First Foundation by 28.1% in the second quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 26,425 shares of the bank’s stock worth $173,000 after buying an additional 5,790 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in First Foundation by 1.5% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 500,490 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $3,278,000 after buying an additional 7,302 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.10% of the company’s stock.

About First Foundation

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.