First American Financial Corporation (NYSE:FAF) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of First American Financial Corporation (NYSE:FAF) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the seven analysts that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation and six have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $84.00.

Several brokerages have recently commented on FAF. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of First American Financial from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Zacks Research lowered shares of First American Financial from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of First American Financial from $82.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on shares of First American Financial from $87.00 to $84.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, June 25th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on shares of First American Financial from $80.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday.

Insider Buying and Selling at First American Financial

In other First American Financial news, Director Margaret M. Mccarthy sold 6,630 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.59, for a total value of $468,011.70. Following the sale, the director owned 24,024 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,695,854.16. The trade was a 21.63% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Lisa W. Cornehl sold 5,823 shares of First American Financial stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.63, for a total transaction of $399,632.49. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 29,635 shares in the company, valued at $2,033,850.05. This trade represents a 16.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Company insiders own 3.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Bar Harbor Wealth Management grew its stake in First American Financial by 52.4% in the 4th quarter. Bar Harbor Wealth Management now owns 135,649 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $8,334,000 after buying an additional 46,639 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in First American Financial by 4.1% during the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,293,573 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $275,816,000 after acquiring an additional 168,706 shares during the last quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in First American Financial during the fourth quarter worth approximately $6,713,000. Jackson Creek Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of First American Financial during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,608,000. Finally, Tudor Investment Corp ET AL bought a new stake in shares of First American Financial during the third quarter worth approximately $5,046,000. Institutional investors own 89.05% of the company’s stock.

First American Financial Price Performance

FAF stock opened at $70.16 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $67.90 and a 200 day moving average price of $65.26. First American Financial has a fifty-two week low of $53.09 and a fifty-two week high of $71.93. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.15 billion, a PE ratio of 10.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.68 and a beta of 1.23.

First American Financial (NYSE:FAF) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 22nd. The insurance provider reported $1.33 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.06 by $0.27. The firm had revenue of $1.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.80 billion. First American Financial had a return on equity of 12.58% and a net margin of 8.73%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 16.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.84 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that First American Financial will post 6.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

First American Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 8th were paid a $0.55 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 8th. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.1%. First American Financial’s dividend payout ratio is 33.79%.

First American Financial Company Profile

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.