Federated Hermes Inc. Has $4.42 Million Stock Position in First Foundation Inc. (NASDAQ:FFWM)

Federated Hermes Inc. reduced its position in shares of First Foundation Inc. (NASDAQ:FFWM) by 39.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 456,121 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 291,469 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. owned approximately 0.81% of First Foundation worth $4,415,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 20,799 shares in the last quarter. Algert Global LLC acquired a new position in shares of First Foundation during the third quarter worth $2,305,000. Emerald Mutual Fund Advisers Trust acquired a new position in shares of First Foundation during the third quarter worth $2,140,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in shares of First Foundation by 5.0% during the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 312,460 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,900,000 after buying an additional 14,980 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Panagora Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of First Foundation during the third quarter worth $1,843,000. 73.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on FFWM shares. Wedbush lowered their price target on shares of First Foundation from $8.00 to $7.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday. StockNews.com raised shares of First Foundation from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Raymond James raised shares of First Foundation from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $9.50 to $12.00 in a research note on Friday, January 5th.

First Foundation Stock Performance

Shares of First Foundation stock opened at $6.08 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52. First Foundation Inc. has a twelve month low of $3.69 and a twelve month high of $11.47. The stock has a market cap of $343.58 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.73 and a beta of 1.23. The company’s fifty day moving average is $7.34 and its 200 day moving average is $7.48.

First Foundation (NASDAQ:FFWM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The bank reported $0.05 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.02 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $56.37 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $62.03 million. First Foundation had a negative net margin of 31.95% and a positive return on equity of 1.80%. Sell-side analysts forecast that First Foundation Inc. will post 0.29 EPS for the current year.

First Foundation Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 6th will be given a dividend of $0.01 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 3rd. This represents a $0.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.66%. First Foundation’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -1.14%.

Insider Buying and Selling at First Foundation

In other First Foundation news, Chairman Ulrich E. Keller, Jr. sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.16, for a total transaction of $204,000.00. Following the sale, the chairman now owns 1,230,622 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,041,875.52. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 10.20% of the company’s stock.

First Foundation Company Profile

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.