First Foundation Inc. (NASDAQ:FFWM) Declares $0.01 Quarterly Dividend

First Foundation Inc. (NASDAQ:FFWM - Get Free Report) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, April 26th, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 6th will be given a dividend of 0.01 per share by the bank on Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $0.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.66%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 3rd.

First Foundation has a dividend payout ratio of 3.8% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect First Foundation to earn $1.03 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.04 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 3.9%.

First Foundation Stock Performance

NASDAQ FFWM traded down $0.62 on Friday, hitting $6.08. 608,647 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 596,264. The business's 50 day moving average price is $7.34 and its 200-day moving average price is $7.48. First Foundation has a 52-week low of $3.69 and a 52-week high of $11.47. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52. The company has a market capitalization of $343.58 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.73 and a beta of 1.23.

First Foundation (NASDAQ:FFWM - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 25th. The bank reported $0.05 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.02 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $56.37 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $62.03 million. First Foundation had a positive return on equity of 1.80% and a negative net margin of 31.95%. Equities analysts expect that First Foundation will post 0.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other First Foundation news, Chairman Ulrich E. Keller, Jr. sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.16, for a total transaction of $204,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now owns 1,230,622 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $10,041,875.52. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 10.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Wedbush lowered their price target on shares of First Foundation from $8.00 to $7.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Raymond James upgraded shares of First Foundation from an "outperform" rating to a "strong-buy" rating and lifted their target price for the company from $9.50 to $12.00 in a research note on Friday, January 5th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded First Foundation from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday.

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.