Philadelphia Financial Management of San Francisco LLC Buys New Stake in First Foundation Inc. (NASDAQ:FFWM)

Philadelphia Financial Management of San Francisco LLC bought a new stake in First Foundation Inc. (NASDAQ:FFWM) during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor bought 709,653 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $4,428,000.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its stake in First Foundation by 8.5% during the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 20,759 shares of the bank’s stock worth $136,000 after buying an additional 1,632 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its stake in shares of First Foundation by 12.4% in the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 23,338 shares of the bank’s stock worth $146,000 after acquiring an additional 2,579 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC increased its position in shares of First Foundation by 5.4% during the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 52,660 shares of the bank’s stock worth $329,000 after acquiring an additional 2,680 shares during the period. Creative Planning increased its position in shares of First Foundation by 35.8% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 16,463 shares of the bank’s stock worth $103,000 after acquiring an additional 4,336 shares during the period. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its stake in shares of First Foundation by 3.8% in the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 132,807 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $829,000 after acquiring an additional 4,820 shares in the last quarter. 73.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have weighed in on FFWM. Stephens downgraded First Foundation from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. StockNews.com lowered shares of First Foundation from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $7.80.

First Foundation Stock Performance

Shares of FFWM opened at $7.85 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $646.41 million, a P/E ratio of -7.01 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 1.04. First Foundation Inc. has a 1 year low of $4.84 and a 1 year high of $11.47. The company’s fifty day moving average is $7.29 and its two-hundred day moving average is $6.60.

First Foundation 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.