First American Financial Co. (NYSE:FAF) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of First American Financial Co. (NYSE:FAF) have been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the six brokerages that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $67.75.

FAF has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of First American Financial from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $66.00 to $69.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on shares of First American Financial in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $72.00 price target on shares of First American Financial in a report on Thursday. Finally, TheStreet cut shares of First American Financial from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 12th.

First American Financial Stock Down 0.1 %

FAF opened at $54.22 on Tuesday. First American Financial has a twelve month low of $49.55 and a twelve month high of $65.54. The company has a fifty day moving average of $57.50 and a 200-day moving average of $58.27. The stock has a market cap of $5.62 billion, a PE ratio of 25.94 and a beta of 1.28.

First American Financial (NYSE:FAF) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The insurance provider reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.67 by ($0.22). First American Financial had a return on equity of 8.18% and a net margin of 3.64%. The firm had revenue of $1.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.42 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.49 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that First American Financial will post 4.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First American Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 8th were issued a dividend of $0.53 per share. This represents a $2.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.91%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. First American Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 101.44%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in FAF. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of First American Financial during the fourth quarter valued at about $76,210,000. Boston Partners grew its holdings in shares of First American Financial by 17.6% during the third quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,169,320 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $178,994,000 after buying an additional 473,961 shares during the last quarter. MKP Capital Management L.L.C. acquired a new position in shares of First American Financial during the fourth quarter valued at about $25,776,000. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. grew its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $79,216,000 after buying an additional 387,848 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. grew its holdings in shares of First American Financial by 91.5% during the fourth quarter. Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. now owns 455,127 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $29,328,000 after buying an additional 217,496 shares during the last quarter. 89.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

First American Financial Company 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.