DA Davidson Comments on First Foundation Inc.’s Q1 2024 Earnings (NASDAQ:FFWM)

First Foundation Inc. (NASDAQ:FFWM) – DA Davidson boosted their Q1 2024 EPS estimates for shares of First Foundation in a research report issued on Wednesday, April 17th. DA Davidson analyst G. Tenner now forecasts that the bank will post earnings per share of $0.02 for the quarter, up from their previous estimate of $0.01. The consensus estimate for First Foundation’s current full-year earnings is $0.28 per share. DA Davidson also issued estimates for First Foundation’s FY2024 earnings at $0.37 EPS.

First Foundation (NASDAQ:FFWM) last released its 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. First Foundation had a positive return on equity of 1.80% and a negative net margin of 31.95%. The firm had revenue of $56.37 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $62.03 million.

Several other research firms have also recently issued reports on FFWM. Wedbush boosted their price objective on shares of First Foundation from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. 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 report on Friday, January 5th.

First Foundation Trading Up 5.4 %

NASDAQ FFWM opened at $6.78 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $382.85 million, a PE ratio of -1.93 and a beta of 1.23. First Foundation has a 12 month low of $3.69 and a 12 month high of $11.47. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $7.46 and its 200-day moving average price is $7.44. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52.

Institutional Trading of First Foundation

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Riverview Trust Co acquired a new stake in First Foundation in the first quarter worth about $25,000. Royal Bank of Canada grew its position in First Foundation by 77.6% during the 2nd quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 6,388 shares of the bank’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 2,792 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP acquired a new position in First Foundation during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its holdings in shares of First Foundation by 461.6% in the second quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 10,322 shares of the bank’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 8,484 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Two Sigma Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of First Foundation during the second quarter worth $56,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.10% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at First Foundation

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

First Foundation Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 5th were issued a $0.01 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 2nd. This represents a $0.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.59%. First Foundation’s dividend payout ratio is presently -1.14%.

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.