First Foundation (NASDAQ:FFWM) Rating Reiterated by Piper Sandler

First Foundation (NASDAQ:FFWM)‘s stock had its “neutral” rating reiterated by investment analysts at Piper Sandler in a research note issued on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $6.00 target price on the bank’s stock. Piper Sandler’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 20.48% from the company’s current price.

Other analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Stephens downgraded 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. Wedbush reduced their target price on shares of First Foundation from $6.00 to $5.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. DA Davidson upgraded First Foundation from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $8.00 to $9.00 in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, StockNews.com raised First Foundation from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $8.00.

First Foundation Trading Down 24.2 %

FFWM traded down $1.59 on Wednesday, hitting $4.98. The company had a trading volume of 2,668,002 shares, compared to its average volume of 580,574. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $5.86 and its 200 day simple moving average is $7.47. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84. First Foundation has a 12-month low of $3.69 and a 12-month high of $11.47. The company has a market cap of $281.42 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 EPS 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 company had revenue of $51.07 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $58.93 million. Equities research analysts expect that First Foundation will post 0.11 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of First Foundation

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Azora Capital LP grew its stake in shares of First Foundation by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Azora Capital LP now owns 3,033,696 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $29,366,000 after buying an additional 90,840 shares in the last quarter. BHZ Capital Management LP grew its position in First Foundation by 33.7% in the 4th 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. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in First Foundation by 0.7% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,812,024 shares of the bank’s stock worth $17,097,000 after purchasing an additional 20,799 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc. lifted its position in shares of First Foundation by 149.3% during the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 41,900 shares of the bank’s stock worth $255,000 after purchasing an additional 25,095 shares in the last quarter. Finally, New York State Common Retirement Fund grew its holdings in shares of First Foundation by 116.3% in the fourth quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 21,070 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $204,000 after purchasing an additional 11,328 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.