PORT ANGELES — First Federal’s first day of public stock trading ended in the plus column for the North Olympic Peninsula-based institution.
At the end of trading at 1 p.m. PDT Friday, the stock — which opened at $11.75 a share — closed at $12.18.
The stock’s high was $12.32 a share. Volume was 4,155,502 shares.
First Northwest Bancorp, the new holding company that owns 100 percent of First Fed, trades on the NASDAQ exchange under the symbol FNWB (click on: http://www.nasdaq.com/symbol/fnwb).
Depositors of 92-year-old First Fed voted to approve its conversion from a mutual, or depositor-owned, bank to a bank owned by stockholders by about a 2-1 vote, corporate officials announced Wednesday.
Depositors also approved the funding of a new First Fed Community Foundation that will give money to charities and other local community groups.
Founded in 1923, First Federal has its headquarters in Port Angeles and operates branches in Port Angeles, Sequim, Port Townsend, Forks and Silverdale, plus a lending center in Bellingham. It has almost 180 employees.
The only locally owned community bank on the Peninsula, First Fed had assets of more than $795 million as of June 30, its last official reporting date.
In its IPO, First Northwest Bancorp sold the maximum-allowed 12,167,000 shares of common stock at $10 per share for gross offering proceeds of $121.7 million.
First Federal’s move follows a national trend in which other mutuals have converted to stock ownership to raise millions in new capital.
The money can be used to build new branches, expand lending and investments and offer new services.
