Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. Sells 54,567 Shares of First Foundation Inc. (NASDAQ:FFWM)

Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. decreased its stake in shares of First Foundation Inc. (NASDAQ:FFWM) by 48.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 57,703 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 54,567 shares during the period. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. owned about 0.10% of First Foundation worth $559,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Diversified Trust Co boosted its position in shares of First Foundation by 8.5% during the fourth quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 13,946 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $135,000 after buying an additional 1,089 shares during the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio boosted its position in First Foundation by 16.3% in the third quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 114,384 shares of the bank’s stock worth $695,000 after purchasing an additional 16,032 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in First Foundation by 0.7% in 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 last quarter. Citigroup Inc. boosted its position in First Foundation by 149.3% in 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 during the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in First Foundation by 14.6% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 403,822 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,455,000 after purchasing an additional 51,303 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.10% of the company’s stock.

First Foundation Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ FFWM opened at $6.45 on Wednesday. First Foundation Inc. has a one year low of $3.69 and a one year high of $11.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52, a current ratio of 1.05 and a quick ratio of 1.05. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $7.56 and its 200-day moving average price is $7.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $364.23 million, a PE ratio of 20.16 and a beta of 1.23.

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. 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. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that First Foundation Inc. will post 0.28 EPS for the current year.

First Foundation Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 5th were given a dividend of $0.01 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 2nd. This represents a $0.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.62%. First Foundation’s dividend payout ratio is presently -1.14%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Chairman Ulrich E. Keller, Jr. sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.16, for a total transaction 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 10.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have weighed in on FFWM shares. Raymond James raised 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 report on Friday, January 5th. Wedbush boosted their price objective on First Foundation from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th.

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.