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

First American Financial Co. (NYSE:FAF) has been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the five brokerages that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $69.00.

Several analysts have recently issued reports on FAF shares. Barclays increased their price target on shares of First American Financial from $61.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of First American Financial from $66.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $66.00 price objective on shares of First American Financial in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their target price on First American Financial from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On First American Financial

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of FAF. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of First American Financial by 16.5% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,647,709 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $196,793,000 after acquiring an additional 515,710 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners increased its stake in First American Financial by 13.3% in the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 4,074,181 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $248,237,000 after purchasing an additional 479,618 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in First American Financial by 4.3% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,567,038 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $645,118,000 after purchasing an additional 431,089 shares during the last quarter. Reinhart Partners LLC. raised its holdings in First American Financial by 65.8% during the second quarter. Reinhart Partners LLC. now owns 943,755 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $50,916,000 after purchasing an additional 374,662 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of First American Financial by 245.1% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 419,995 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $22,659,000 after buying an additional 298,302 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.05% of the company’s stock.

First American Financial Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE FAF opened at $66.89 on Tuesday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $64.44 and its two-hundred day moving average is $58.94. First American Financial has a 52-week low of $49.55 and a 52-week high of $67.88. The firm has a market cap of $6.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.00 and a beta of 1.29.

First American Financial (NYSE:FAF) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The insurance provider reported $1.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.13 by $0.14. First American Financial had a return on equity of 7.98% and a net margin of 3.28%. The firm had revenue of $1.61 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.62 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.35 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that First American Financial will post 3.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First American Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 20th were given a dividend of $0.54 per share. This is a boost from First American Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. This represents a $2.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 20th. First American Financial’s payout ratio is 103.35%.

About First American Financial

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.