First American Financial (NYSE:FAF) Raised to Overweight at Barclays

First American Financial (NYSE:FAF) was upgraded by research analysts at Barclays from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a report issued on Monday, MarketBeat reports. The firm presently has a $72.00 target price on the insurance provider’s stock, up from their previous target price of $70.00. Barclays‘s target price suggests a potential upside of 18.52% from the company’s previous close.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on FAF. Wall Street Zen raised First American Financial from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 7th. Weiss Ratings reissued 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 research note on Friday, February 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on First American Financial from $79.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 18th. Finally, Stephens raised First American Financial from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $70.00 to $81.00 in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $79.00.

First American Financial Stock Performance

NYSE:FAF opened at $60.75 on Monday. First American Financial has a one year low of $53.09 and a one year high of $71.47. The stock has a market cap of $6.21 billion, a PE ratio of 10.11, a P/E/G ratio of 0.60 and a beta of 1.28. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $64.30 and a 200 day moving average price of $63.28.

First American Financial (NYSE:FAF) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The insurance provider reported $1.99 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $2 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.80 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.35 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that First American Financial will post 5.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at First American Financial

In other First American Financial news, Director Parker S. Kennedy purchased 44,841 shares of the firm’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 acquisition, the director directly owned 251,552 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,067,803.20. This represents a 21.69% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 3.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of First American Financial

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

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.