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

First Foundation (NASDAQ:FFWM) had its price target lowered by Wedbush from $8.00 to $7.00 in a research note released on Friday, Benzinga reports. Wedbush currently has 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 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 note on Friday, January 5th.

First Foundation Trading Down 1.8 %

First Foundation stock opened at $5.97 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $7.29 and a two-hundred day moving average of $7.50. 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. The stock has a market cap of $337.36 million, a PE ratio of -1.63 and a beta of 1.23.

First Foundation Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 0.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 3rd. First Foundation’s payout ratio is -1.09%.

Insider Transactions at First Foundation

In other news, Chairman Ulrich E. Keller, Jr. sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.16, for a total value of $204,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 1,230,622 shares in the company, valued at $10,041,875.52. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 8.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of FFWM. rhino investment partners Inc purchased a new position in First Foundation during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $4,093,000. Algert Global LLC purchased a new position in First Foundation during the third quarter valued at approximately $2,305,000. Emerald Mutual Fund Advisers Trust purchased a new position in First Foundation during the third quarter valued at approximately $2,140,000. Panagora Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in First Foundation during the third quarter valued at approximately $1,843,000. Finally, BHZ Capital Management LP raised its position 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 acquiring an additional 187,182 shares in the last quarter. 73.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.