Piper Sandler Reaffirms Neutral Rating for First Foundation (NASDAQ:FFWM)

First Foundation (NASDAQ:FFWM)‘s stock had its “neutral” rating reissued by stock analysts at Piper Sandler in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $6.00 price target on the bank’s stock. Piper Sandler’s target price indicates a potential upside of 20.00% from the company’s current price.

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Wedbush dropped their price objective on shares of First Foundation from $6.00 to $5.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. DA Davidson upgraded shares of First Foundation from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $8.00 to $9.00 in a research report on Wednesday. Stephens cut shares of First Foundation from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Raymond James cut shares of First Foundation from a “strong-buy” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of First Foundation from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $8.00.

First Foundation Stock Performance

FFWM stock opened at $5.00 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 1.07. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $5.79 and a 200 day moving average price of $7.44. First Foundation has a fifty-two week low of $3.69 and a fifty-two week high of $11.47. The stock has a market capitalization of $282.56 million, a PE ratio of -1.37 and a beta of 1.34.

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On First Foundation

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Riverview Trust Co acquired a new stake in First Foundation in the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. Quadrature Capital Ltd acquired a new stake in First Foundation in the 4th quarter valued at about $126,000. Diversified Trust Co lifted its stake in First Foundation by 8.5% in the 4th quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 13,946 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $135,000 after purchasing an additional 1,089 shares during the last quarter. Caxton Associates LP acquired a new stake in First Foundation in the 1st quarter valued at about $123,000. Finally, TFO Wealth Partners LLC lifted its stake in First Foundation by 38,300.0% in the 4th quarter. TFO Wealth Partners LLC now owns 16,896 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $164,000 after purchasing an additional 16,852 shares during the last quarter. 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.