First American Financial Corporation (NYSE:FAF) Receives $78.50 Consensus Target Price from Analysts

Shares of First American Financial Corporation (NYSE:FAF) have received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the six analysts that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $78.50.

FAF has been the subject of several analyst reports. Barclays increased their price target on shares of First American Financial from $68.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of First American Financial in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Wall Street Zen cut First American Financial from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 21st. Truist Financial upped their price objective on First American Financial from $76.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. Finally, Stephens raised First American Financial from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $70.00 to $81.00 in a report on Monday.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Parker S. Kennedy bought 44,841 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $67.85 per share, with a total value of $3,042,461.85. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 251,552 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,067,803.20. This represents a 21.69% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders own 3.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of FAF. Boston Partners lifted its stake in First American Financial by 8.9% in the 3rd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 6,133,594 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $393,690,000 after buying an additional 500,649 shares in the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its holdings in shares of First American Financial by 4,485,375.2% in the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 5,786,263 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $355,508,000 after acquiring an additional 5,786,134 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of First American Financial by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,391,185 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $269,799,000 after acquiring an additional 97,612 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in shares of First American Financial by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 3,415,825 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $209,868,000 after acquiring an additional 109,242 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of First American Financial by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,793,179 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $110,200,000 after acquiring an additional 19,752 shares during the last quarter. 89.05% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

First American Financial Price Performance

Shares of NYSE FAF opened at $69.48 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $64.35 and a 200 day moving average price of $64.04. First American Financial has a 1-year low of $53.09 and a 1-year high of $71.47. The company has a market cap of $7.08 billion, a PE ratio of 11.56, a P/E/G ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 1.25.

First American Financial (NYSE:FAF) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 11th. The insurance provider reported $1.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.49 by $0.50. First American Financial had a net margin of 8.34% and a return on equity of 11.92%. The company had revenue of $2 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.80 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.35 EPS. First American Financial’s revenue was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that First American Financial will post 5.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

First American Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Investors of record on Monday, March 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.55 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 9th. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.2%. First American Financial’s payout ratio is currently 36.61%.

About First American Financial

First American Financial Corporation is a leading provider of title insurance, settlement services and diversified real estate-related data and analytics. Headquartered in Santa Ana, California, the company serves customers throughout the United States as well as in Canada, Europe, Latin America and Asia. Its business is built on the underwriting capabilities of its title insurance operations combined with comprehensive closing and escrow services for homebuyers, sellers, mortgage lenders and real estate professionals.

The company’s title insurance segment issues policies that protect property owners and mortgage lenders against defects in titles, liens or encumbrances that can arise during real property transactions.