Elizabeth A. Pagliarini Buys 5,610 Shares of First Foundation Inc. (NASDAQ:FFWM) Stock

First Foundation Inc. (NASDAQ:FFWM – Get Rating) Director Elizabeth A. Pagliarini purchased 5,610 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 8th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $4.35 per share, with a total value of $24,403.50. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 18,205 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $79,191.75. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

First Foundation Stock Down 5.0 %

FFWM opened at $4.35 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. First Foundation Inc. has a 1-year low of $3.96 and a 1-year high of $22.62. The company has a market capitalization of $245.12 million, a PE ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.88. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $8.32 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $12.62.

First Foundation Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 19th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 8th will be paid a $0.02 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 5th. This represents a $0.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.84%. First Foundation’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.21%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on FFWM shares. Wedbush reduced their price target on shares of First Foundation from $10.00 to $8.00 in a research report on Friday, April 28th. Raymond James cut their price objective on shares of First Foundation from $18.00 to $9.50 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 6th. Piper Sandler downgraded shares of First Foundation from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $17.50 to $16.00 in a research note on Friday, February 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of First Foundation from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, First Foundation has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $14.90.

Institutional Trading of First Foundation

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. ProShare Advisors LLC grew its stake in First Foundation by 8.2% during the first quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 9,388 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $229,000 after acquiring an additional 711 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in First Foundation by 87.9% during the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 138,554 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $3,366,000 after acquiring an additional 64,820 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates grew its stake in First Foundation by 6.7% during the first quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 58,474 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,420,000 after acquiring an additional 3,671 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in First Foundation by 14.8% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 261,504 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $6,352,000 after acquiring an additional 33,771 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its stake in First Foundation by 161.8% during the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 17,382 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $422,000 after acquiring an additional 10,743 shares in the last quarter. 69.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About First Foundation

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First Foundation, Inc is a bank holding, which engages in the provision of a comprehensive platform of financial services to individuals, businesses, and organizations. It operates through the following segments: Banking, Wealth Management, and Other. The company was founded by John Avak Hakopian and Ulrich Emanuel Keller, Jr.