First Foundation (NASDAQ:FFWM) PT Lowered to $5.00

First Foundation (NASDAQ:FFWM) had its price objective cut by stock analysts at Wedbush from $6.00 to $5.00 in a research note issued on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “neutral” rating on the bank’s stock. Wedbush’s price target points to a potential downside of 23.90% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on FFWM. Raymond James cut First Foundation from a “strong-buy” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Stephens cut First Foundation from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday. 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 report on Wednesday. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of First Foundation from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $8.67.

First Foundation Price Performance

Shares of FFWM stock opened at $6.57 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $5.86 and its 200 day simple moving average is $7.47. First Foundation has a one year low of $3.69 and a one year high of $11.47. The firm has a market cap of $371.27 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.80 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 1.07.

First Foundation (NASDAQ:FFWM) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The bank reported $0.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.01 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $51.07 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $58.93 million. First Foundation had a negative net margin of 32.44% and a positive return on equity of 1.11%. On average, analysts expect that First Foundation will post 0.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in FFWM. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC bought a new position in First Foundation during the first quarter worth about $3,819,000. rhino investment partners Inc bought a new position in First Foundation during the 4th quarter worth approximately $4,093,000. Kennedy Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in First Foundation during the first quarter valued at approximately $1,731,000. BHZ Capital Management LP grew its holdings in First Foundation by 33.7% during the fourth quarter. BHZ Capital Management LP now owns 742,355 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $7,186,000 after purchasing an additional 187,182 shares during the period. Finally, Verdad Advisers LP increased its stake in First Foundation by 175.0% in the fourth quarter. Verdad Advisers LP now owns 165,000 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,597,000 after purchasing an additional 105,000 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.