First Foundation (NASDAQ:FFWM) PT Lowered to $7.00 at Wedbush

First Foundation (NASDAQ:FFWM) had its price objective cut by Wedbush from $8.00 to $7.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a neutral rating on the bank’s stock. Wedbush also issued estimates for First Foundation’s Q2 2024 earnings at $0.04 EPS, FY2024 earnings at $0.30 EPS, Q1 2025 earnings at $0.17 EPS and Q4 2025 earnings at $0.30 EPS.

Separately, Raymond James upgraded shares of First Foundation from an outperform rating to a strong-buy rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $9.50 to $12.00 in a research report on Friday, January 5th.

First Foundation Stock Performance

Shares of First Foundation stock opened at $6.08 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $7.34 and its 200 day moving average price is $7.50. The company has a market cap of $343.59 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.66 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.05. First Foundation has a one year low of $3.69 and a one year high of $11.47.

First Foundation (NASDAQ:FFWM) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The bank reported $0.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.02 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $56.37 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $62.03 million. First Foundation had a positive return on equity of 1.11% and a negative net margin of 32.44%. On average, research analysts predict that First Foundation will post 0.27 EPS for the current year.

First Foundation Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 6th will be paid a $0.01 dividend. This represents a $0.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 3rd. First Foundation’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -1.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other First Foundation news, Chairman Ulrich E. Keller, Jr. sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.16, for a total transaction of $204,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now owns 1,230,622 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,041,875.52. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 10.20% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On First Foundation

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new position in First Foundation during the third quarter worth $216,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in First Foundation by 5.0% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 312,460 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,900,000 after acquiring an additional 14,980 shares in the last quarter. Emerald Mutual Fund Advisers Trust purchased a new position in First Foundation during the 3rd quarter valued at about $2,140,000. Panagora Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in First Foundation in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,843,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in First Foundation by 49.3% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 26,926 shares of the bank’s stock worth $164,000 after purchasing an additional 8,888 shares during the period. 73.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.