First American Financial Corporation $FAF Shares Acquired by Dimensional Fund Advisors LP

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in First American Financial Corporation (NYSE:FAF) by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 4,293,573 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 168,706 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned about 4.21% of First American Financial worth $275,816,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FAF. Allianz Asset Management GmbH increased its holdings in First American Financial by 10.6% in the third quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 210,739 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $13,538,000 after buying an additional 20,188 shares in the last quarter. Channing Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of First American Financial by 16.9% in the third quarter. Channing Capital Management LLC now owns 1,547,790 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $99,430,000 after acquiring an additional 224,277 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its stake in shares of First American Financial by 129.0% during the 2nd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 64,774 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,976,000 after acquiring an additional 36,485 shares in the last quarter. AXQ Capital LP grew its position in shares of First American Financial by 29.4% during the 2nd quarter. AXQ Capital LP now owns 10,880 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $668,000 after acquiring an additional 2,470 shares during the period. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of First American Financial during the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,215,000. 89.05% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

First American Financial Stock Down 1.9%

FAF opened at $67.71 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $6.90 billion, a PE ratio of 11.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 1.25. First American Financial Corporation has a twelve month low of $53.09 and a twelve month high of $71.47. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $64.62 and a 200 day moving average price of $64.10.

First American Financial (NYSE:FAF) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 11th. The insurance provider reported $1.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.49 by $0.50. First American Financial had a return on equity of 11.92% and a net margin of 8.34%.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 firm posted $1.35 EPS. First American Financial’s revenue was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that First American Financial Corporation will post 5.35 earnings per share for the current year.

First American Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 9th will be given a $0.55 dividend. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 9th. First American Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.61%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently weighed in on FAF. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of First American Financial in a research note on Friday, December 26th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating on shares of First American Financial in a report on Friday, February 13th. Barclays boosted their price objective on First American Financial from $68.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Stephens raised First American Financial from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $70.00 to $81.00 in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. Finally, Truist Financial increased their target price on First American Financial from $76.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $78.50.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Parker S. Kennedy purchased 44,841 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 17th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $67.85 per share, with a total value of $3,042,461.85. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 251,552 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,067,803.20. The trade was a 21.69% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. 3.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.