Foster & Motley Inc. Takes Position in First American Financial Co. (NYSE:FAF)

Foster & Motley Inc. acquired a new stake in First American Financial Co. (NYSE:FAF) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 3,891 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $251,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Boston Partners increased its holdings in First American Financial by 17.6% during the third quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,169,320 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $178,994,000 after buying an additional 473,961 shares during the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. increased its holdings in First American Financial by 46.1% during the fourth quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 1,229,294 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $79,216,000 after buying an additional 387,848 shares during the last quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC acquired a new position in First American Financial during the third quarter worth $9,061,000. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in First American Financial by 43.6% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 459,317 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $25,947,000 after buying an additional 139,532 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in First American Financial by 6.7% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,135,149 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $120,615,000 after buying an additional 133,807 shares during the last quarter. 89.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of First American Financial from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $66.00 to $69.00 in a report on Thursday, March 21st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on shares of First American Financial in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and set a $73.00 target price on shares of First American Financial in a report on Thursday, February 8th. Finally, TheStreet downgraded shares of First American Financial from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 12th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $68.00.

First American Financial Price Performance

NYSE:FAF opened at $57.78 on Thursday. First American Financial Co. has a one year low of $49.55 and a one year high of $65.54. The company has a market cap of $5.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.78 and a beta of 1.28. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $57.72 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $58.30.

First American Financial (NYSE:FAF) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 8th. The insurance provider reported $0.69 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.75 by ($0.06). The company had revenue of $1.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.47 billion. First American Financial had a net margin of 3.61% and a return on equity of 8.27%. First American Financial’s revenue for the quarter was down 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.35 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that First American Financial Co. will post 4.28 earnings per share for the current year.

First American Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 8th were given a $0.53 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. This represents a $2.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.67%. First American Financial’s payout ratio is presently 101.92%.

First American Financial Profile

First American Financial Corporation, through its subsidiaries, provides financial services. It operates through Title Insurance and Services, and Home Warranty segments. The Title Insurance and Services segment issues title insurance policies on residential and commercial property, as well as offers related products and services internationally.