Royce & Associates LP Purchases 506,956 Shares of First Foundation Inc. (NASDAQ:FFWM)

Royce & Associates LP grew its stake in shares of First Foundation Inc. (NASDAQ:FFWM - Free Report) by 143.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 859,770 shares of the bank's stock after buying an additional 506,956 shares during the quarter. Royce & Associates LP owned 1.27% of First Foundation worth $5,365,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in FFWM. Kennedy Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of First Foundation during the 1st quarter valued at $1,731,000. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC bought a new position in shares of First Foundation during the 2nd quarter valued at $563,000. Elizabeth Park Capital Advisors Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of First Foundation by 26.7% during the 2nd quarter. Elizabeth Park Capital Advisors Ltd. now owns 463,953 shares of the bank's stock valued at $3,039,000 after purchasing an additional 97,732 shares during the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans bought a new position in shares of First Foundation during the 2nd quarter valued at $838,000. Finally, Mendon Capital Advisors Corp grew its holdings in shares of First Foundation by 144.3% during the 2nd quarter. Mendon Capital Advisors Corp now owns 646,691 shares of the bank's stock valued at $4,236,000 after purchasing an additional 381,946 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.10% of the company's stock.

First Foundation Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:FFWM traded up $0.08 on Tuesday, hitting $7.66. The company had a trading volume of 339,375 shares, compared to its average volume of 614,523. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $6.99 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $6.42. First Foundation Inc. has a 1 year low of $4.84 and a 1 year high of $11.47. The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $630.80 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.77 and a beta of 1.30.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Stephens lowered shares of First Foundation from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. StockNews.com lowered shares of First Foundation from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, First Foundation presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $7.80.

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.