First American Financial Co. (NYSE:FAF) Position Cut by Ensign Peak Advisors Inc

Ensign Peak Advisors Inc trimmed its stake in First American Financial Co. (NYSE:FAF) by 35.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 57,690 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 31,997 shares during the quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc owned approximately 0.06% of First American Financial worth $3,602,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in First American Financial by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,625,017 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $663,426,000 after buying an additional 107,925 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in First American Financial by 20.8% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,046,743 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $377,559,000 after buying an additional 1,042,145 shares during the last quarter. Ariel Investments LLC lifted its stake in First American Financial by 9.9% in the fourth quarter. Ariel Investments LLC now owns 3,993,155 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $249,333,000 after buying an additional 359,777 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in First American Financial by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,963,516 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $247,481,000 after buying an additional 129,863 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in First American Financial by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,573,788 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $160,707,000 after buying an additional 78,022 shares during the last quarter. 89.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on FAF shares. Stephens lifted their price objective on shares of First American Financial from $73.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of First American Financial from $75.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of First American Financial from $69.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of First American Financial from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $75.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Mark Edward Seaton sold 12,679 shares of First American Financial stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.28, for a total value of $815,006.12. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 195,812 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,586,795.36. This trade represents a 6.08% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Lisa W. Cornehl sold 3,057 shares of First American Financial stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.49, for a total value of $200,202.93. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 23,825 shares in the company, valued at $1,560,299.25. This represents a 11.37% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 127,707 shares of company stock valued at $8,136,565 over the last three months. Company insiders own 3.70% of the company’s stock.

First American Financial Stock Down 1.1%

NYSE:FAF opened at $59.39 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $61.96 and its 200 day moving average price is $63.34. The firm has a market cap of $6.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.51 and a beta of 1.29. First American Financial Co. has a 52-week low of $51.85 and a 52-week high of $70.92.

First American Financial (NYSE:FAF) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The insurance provider reported $0.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.65 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $1.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.53 billion. First American Financial had a return on equity of 9.35% and a net margin of 2.14%. First American Financial’s revenue was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.45 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that First American Financial Co. will post 5.35 EPS for the current year.

First American Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.54 per share. This represents a $2.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. First American Financial’s payout ratio is currently 143.05%.

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.