First Financial Northwest (NASDAQ:FFNW) Downgraded by Piper Sandler

First Financial Northwest (NASDAQ:FFNW) was downgraded by equities researchers at Piper Sandler from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note issued on Friday, Briefing.com reports. They currently have a $23.50 price objective on the bank’s stock. Piper Sandler’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 7.55% from the stock’s previous close.

First Financial Northwest Stock Down 1.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ FFNW opened at $21.85 on Friday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $21.27 and its 200-day simple moving average is $20.72. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. The firm has a market cap of $200.36 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 66.21 and a beta of 0.54. First Financial Northwest has a 52-week low of $10.09 and a 52-week high of $22.48.

First Financial Northwest (NASDAQ:FFNW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The bank reported ($0.12) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.09 by ($0.21). First Financial Northwest had a return on equity of 1.94% and a net margin of 3.78%. The firm had revenue of $9.69 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.93 million. Equities analysts predict that First Financial Northwest will post 0.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in FFNW. Choreo LLC increased its stake in shares of First Financial Northwest by 15.6% in the fourth quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 19,280 shares of the bank’s stock worth $260,000 after buying an additional 2,600 shares during the last quarter. Clear Harbor Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in First Financial Northwest during the second quarter valued at $411,000. Black Maple Capital Management LP increased its stake in First Financial Northwest by 86.1% during the fourth quarter. Black Maple Capital Management LP now owns 97,183 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,310,000 after purchasing an additional 44,952 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in First Financial Northwest by 45.2% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 63,223 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,336,000 after purchasing an additional 19,670 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Value Bank Partners LLC increased its stake in First Financial Northwest by 6.4% during the fourth quarter. Strategic Value Bank Partners LLC now owns 503,567 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $6,788,000 after purchasing an additional 30,468 shares during the last quarter. 55.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About First Financial Northwest

First Financial Northwest, Inc operates as the bank holding company for First Financial Northwest Bank that provides commercial banking services in Washington. The company offers a range of deposit products, including noninterest-bearing accounts, interest-bearing demand accounts, money market accounts, savings accounts, and certificates of deposit.