First Foundation (NASDAQ:FFWM) Downgraded by Stephens

Stephens cut shares of First Foundation (NASDAQ:FFWM - Free Report) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, Zacks.com reports.

Several other brokerages have also recently commented on FFWM. Wedbush dropped their target price on First Foundation from $6.00 to $5.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 3rd. StockNews.com cut First Foundation from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. DA Davidson upgraded 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 report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Piper Sandler restated a neutral rating and set a $6.00 price objective on shares of First Foundation in a research report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Finally, Raymond James downgraded shares of First Foundation from a strong-buy rating to a market perform rating in a report on Wednesday, July 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $7.80.

First Foundation Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:FFWM traded up $0.62 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $6.57. The stock had a trading volume of 512,197 shares, compared to its average volume of 616,155. First Foundation has a 1-year low of $4.41 and a 1-year high of $11.47. The firm has a market capitalization of $371.28 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.80 and a beta of 1.33. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $6.51 and its 200 day simple moving average is $6.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.04.

First Foundation (NASDAQ:FFWM - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. First Foundation had a net margin of 1.34% and a return on equity of 1.07%. The business had revenue of $164.57 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $54.23 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.07 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that First Foundation will post -0.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of First Foundation

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Riverview Trust Co acquired a new position in shares of First Foundation in the first quarter worth $25,000. Caxton Associates LP bought a new stake in First Foundation during the first quarter worth approximately $123,000. Quadrature Capital Ltd acquired a new position in First Foundation during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $126,000. Boston Partners acquired a new position in First Foundation during the first quarter valued at approximately $128,000. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised 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 worth $136,000 after acquiring an additional 1,632 shares during the period. 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.