Stock Traders Purchase Large Volume of Fidelity National Financial Put Options (NYSE:FNF)

Fidelity National Financial, Inc. (NYSE:FNF) saw unusually large options trading activity on Monday. Stock traders purchased 16,005 put options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 5,217% compared to the average volume of 301 put options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FNF has been the subject of a number of research reports. National Bank Financial set a $54.00 price objective on Fidelity National Financial in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on shares of Fidelity National Financial from $64.00 to $61.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Fidelity National Financial in a report on Tuesday, September 8th. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $55.00 price objective on shares of Fidelity National Financial in a research note on Monday, August 24th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Fidelity National Financial from $51.00 to $54.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $56.00.

Insider Activity at Fidelity National Financial

In other news, EVP Peter Sadowski sold 69,196 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.70, for a total value of $3,162,257.20. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 5,702 shares in the company, valued at $260,581.40. This trade represents a 92.39% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 5.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Fidelity National Financial

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Fidelity National Financial in the 4th quarter worth about $181,017,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in Fidelity National Financial in the second quarter worth about $112,882,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Fidelity National Financial by 30.1% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,210,824 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $195,287,000 after acquiring an additional 973,891 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its stake in Fidelity National Financial by 70.3% in the first quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 896,177 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $41,524,000 after acquiring an additional 369,908 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Squarepoint Ops LLC boosted its stake in Fidelity National Financial by 74.4% in the second quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 688,380 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $32,464,000 after acquiring an additional 293,761 shares during the last quarter. 81.17% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Fidelity National Financial Stock Performance

Shares of Fidelity National Financial stock traded up $0.15 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $42.65. 289,690 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,806,054. Fidelity National Financial has a 12 month low of $42.32 and a 12 month high of $60.74. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $48.34 and a 200 day simple moving average of $48.17. The company has a market capitalization of $11.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.06, a P/E/G ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.26 and a current ratio of 0.26.

Fidelity National Financial (NYSE:FNF) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The financial services provider reported $1.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.31 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $4.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.79 billion. Fidelity National Financial had a return on equity of 16.07% and a net margin of 5.03%.Fidelity National Financial’s quarterly revenue was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.16 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Fidelity National Financial will post 5.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fidelity National Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 16th will be paid a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.9%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 16th. Fidelity National Financial’s dividend payout ratio is 73.50%.

Fidelity National Financial Company Profile

Fidelity National Financial, Inc (NYSE:FNF) is a provider of title insurance, escrow and settlement services, and other title-related products in the United States. Through its Fidelity National Title Group businesses, the company helps protect property buyers, lenders and other parties against losses arising from defects in real estate titles and supports the closing of residential and commercial property transactions.

FNF’s title operations include well-known brands such as Fidelity National Title, Chicago Title, Commonwealth Land Title and Alamo Title.