Boston Private stock continues decline
Shares of Boston Private Financial Holdings Inc. fell today as an analyst cut his rating of the company a day after the financial services firm said it would raise loan-loss reserves at one of its units.
Shares of Boston Private Financial fell $1.62, or 11 percent, to $13.10 in morning trading. Earlier in the session, shares slipped to a 52-week low of $13.08. Shares had traded between $14.19 and $30.33 during the past year.
Boston Private Financial shares lost 27 percent Thursday after the company disclosed the increase in loss reserves.
William Blair & Co. analyst David Long cut his rating on Boston Private Financial to "Market Perform" from "Outperform."
"Given further deterioration in housing-related credits and the company's restatement, we have a lower degree of confidence that the company will keep credit costs at an easily manageable level, and expect it to build reserves in other geographies," Long wrote in a research note.
On Thursday, Boston Private Financial said its affiliate First Private Bank & Trust will increase its loan-loss reserves between $16 million and $19 million for the quarter ending Dec. 31, reducing Boston Private Financial's earnings between 27 cents and 31 cents per share.
The increased reserves are due to potential losses in First Private's portfolio of residential construction and land loans in Southern California.
Long said southern Florida is a likely candidate for additional reserve builds in the coming months.
Long cut his 2008 earnings estimate to $1.45 per share from $1.70 per share, and his 2009 estimate to $1.70 per share from $2 per share. (AP)
