Stephens Downgrades First Foundation (NASDAQ:FFWM) to Equal Weight

First Foundation (NASDAQ:FFWM) was downgraded by analysts at Stephens from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a report released on Wednesday, Marketbeat Ratings reports.

FFWM has been the topic of a number of other research reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of First Foundation from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Wedbush reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $7.00 price objective on shares of First Foundation in a research note on Wednesday, May 22nd. DA Davidson upgraded shares of First Foundation from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $8.00 to $9.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Raymond James lowered shares of First Foundation from a “strong-buy” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $8.00.

First Foundation Stock Performance

Shares of FFWM stock opened at $5.00 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $5.79 and its 200-day simple moving average is $7.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $282.56 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.37 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.07. First Foundation has a one year low of $3.69 and a one year high of $11.47.

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Riverview Trust Co purchased a new position in First Foundation during the 1st quarter worth approximately $25,000. Quadrature Capital Ltd acquired a new stake in First Foundation during the 4th quarter valued at $126,000. Diversified Trust Co raised its stake in First Foundation by 8.5% during 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 period. Caxton Associates LP acquired a new stake in First Foundation during the 1st quarter valued at $123,000. Finally, TFO Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in First Foundation by 38,300.0% during 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 period. 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.