Fidelity National Financial, Inc. (NYSE:FNF) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Fidelity National Financial, Inc. (NYSE:FNF) has been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the five analysts that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $70.40.

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Fidelity National Financial from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $76.00 to $77.00 in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Stephens boosted their target price on Fidelity National Financial from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on Fidelity National Financial from $64.00 to $63.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Fidelity National Financial from $61.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Fidelity National Financial from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th.

Insider Activity

In other Fidelity National Financial news, Director Halim Dhanidina sold 2,800 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.85, for a total value of $153,580.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 16,716 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $916,872.60. This represents a 14.35 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 5.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Fidelity National Financial by 8,302.5% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 626,655 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $40,783,000 after acquiring an additional 619,197 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its position in shares of Fidelity National Financial by 113.8% during the first quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 3,697 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $241,000 after purchasing an additional 1,968 shares during the period. Park National Corp OH bought a new stake in shares of Fidelity National Financial during the first quarter valued at approximately $208,000. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of Fidelity National Financial by 421.4% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 35,223 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,977,000 after purchasing an additional 28,468 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in Fidelity National Financial by 31.9% in the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 32,633 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,832,000 after purchasing an additional 7,887 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.17% of the company’s stock.

Fidelity National Financial Trading Down 3.8 %

NYSE:FNF opened at $57.80 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $15.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.43 and a beta of 1.09. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $61.36 and its 200 day moving average price is $60.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 0.24 and a current ratio of 0.24. Fidelity National Financial has a 52 week low of $46.85 and a 52 week high of $66.72.

Fidelity National Financial (NYSE:FNF) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The financial services provider reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.23 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $3.62 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.33 billion. Fidelity National Financial had a net margin of 9.28% and a return on equity of 15.36%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.75 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Fidelity National Financial will post 6.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fidelity National Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 17th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.46%. Fidelity National Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.01%.

Fidelity National Financial Company Profile

Fidelity National Financial, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides various insurance products in the United States. The company operates through Title, F&G, and Corporate and Other segments. It offers title insurance, escrow, and other title related services, including trust activities, trustee sales guarantees, recordings and reconveyances, and home warranty products.