Wedge Capital Management LLP NC increased its stake in First Foundation Inc. (NASDAQ: FFWM – Get a rating) by 33.6% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor held 235,062 shares of the bank after purchasing an additional 59,088 shares during the quarter. Wedge Capital Management LLP NC’s holdings in First Foundation were worth $5,710,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently changed their holdings in the company. Andrew Hill Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new equity stake in First Foundation in Q4 for $48,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC purchased a new equity stake in First Foundation in Q4 valued at $165,000. Brookmont Capital Management increased its stake in First Foundation shares by 6.7% in the fourth quarter. Brookmont Capital Management now owns 8,361 shares of the bank valued at $208,000 after buying 526 additional shares last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC purchased a new equity stake in First Foundation in Q4 valued at $216,000. Finally, Cooper Financial Group purchased a new equity stake in First Foundation in Q1 worth $219,000. 60.50% of the shares are currently held by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Shares of FFWM opened at $21.07 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.53 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt ratio of 0.30. The company has a fifty-day simple moving average of $21.92 and a two-hundred-day simple moving average of $24.30. First Foundation Inc. has a 12-month low of $20.30 and a 12-month high of $29.41.

First foundation (NASDAQ: FFWM – Get a rating) last announced its quarterly results on Tuesday, April 26. The bank reported earnings per share of $0.55 for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.04. First Foundation had a net margin of 34.58% and a return on equity of 12.94%. The company posted revenue of $89.92 million in the quarter, compared to $89.18 million expected by analysts. In the same quarter a year earlier, the company posted EPS of $0.50. Sell-side analysts expect First Foundation Inc. to post EPS of 2.28 for the current fiscal year.

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 16. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 6 received a dividend of $0.11. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 5. This represents an annualized dividend of $0.44 and a yield of 2.09%. First Foundation’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 17.81%.

A number of equity research analysts have recently released reports on FFWM shares. B. Riley reduced his price target on First Foundation shares from $34.00 to $31.00 in a Tuesday, April 12 research note. StockNews.com began covering First Foundation stocks in a research report on Thursday, March 31. They set a “holding” rating for the company.

About First Foundation (Get a rating)

First Foundation Inc, through its subsidiaries, provides retail, corporate and private wealth management banking services in the United States. It operates through two segments, Banking and Wealth Management. The Company offers a range of bank deposit products, including personal and business checking accounts, savings accounts, interest-bearing negotiable promissory withdrawal accounts, money market accounts and term deposit certificates; and lending products consisting of multi-family and single-family residential real estate loans, commercial real estate loans and commercial term loans and lines of credit, as well as consumer loans, such as personal installment loans and lines of credit , and home equity lines of credit .

See also

Want to see what other hedge funds own FFWM? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trading for First Foundation Inc. (NASDAQ: FFWM – Get a rating).

Get news and reviews for First Foundation Daily – Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analyst ratings for First Foundation and related companies with MarketBeat.com’s FREE daily email newsletter.