First American Financial Corporation (NYSE:FAF) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Buy” by Analysts

First American Financial Corporation (NYSE:FAF) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Buy” by the seven brokerages that are covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $82.50.

A number of brokerages have issued reports on FAF. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on First American Financial from $82.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Weiss Ratings upgraded First American Financial from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Zacks Research upgraded First American Financial from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating on shares of First American Financial in a report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered First American Financial from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 2nd.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Lisa W. Cornehl sold 5,823 shares of First American Financial stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.63, for a total value of $399,632.49. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 29,635 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,033,850.05. The trade was a 16.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Margaret M. Mccarthy sold 6,630 shares of First American Financial stock in a transaction on Friday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.59, for a total value of $468,011.70. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 24,024 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,695,854.16. The trade was a 21.63% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 3.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of First American Financial

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Bank of America Corp DE grew its holdings in shares of First American Financial by 42.1% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 624,123 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $37,628,000 after acquiring an additional 184,896 shares during the period. Amundi grew its holdings in shares of First American Financial by 68.4% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 9,628 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $580,000 after acquiring an additional 3,909 shares during the period. California State Teachers Retirement System grew its holdings in shares of First American Financial by 25.2% in the first quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 120,448 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $7,262,000 after acquiring an additional 24,224 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada grew its holdings in shares of First American Financial by 66.3% in the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 88,582 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $5,340,000 after acquiring an additional 35,315 shares during the period. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC grew its holdings in shares of First American Financial by 60.8% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 7,652 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $461,000 after acquiring an additional 2,892 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.05% of the company’s stock.

First American Financial Stock Up 0.5%

FAF opened at $68.20 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $64.74 and a 200-day moving average of $64.36. The stock has a market cap of $6.95 billion, a PE ratio of 10.48, a PEG ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 1.28. First American Financial has a 52 week low of $53.09 and a 52 week high of $71.47.

First American Financial (NYSE:FAF) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 22nd. The insurance provider reported $1.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.06 by $0.27. The business had revenue of $1.85 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.80 billion. First American Financial had a return on equity of 12.58% and a net margin of 8.73%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 16.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.84 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that First American Financial will post 6.83 EPS for the current year.

First American Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 8th will be issued a $0.55 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 8th. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.2%. First American Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 33.79%.

About First American Financial

First American Financial Corporation is a leading provider of title insurance, settlement services and diversified real estate-related data and analytics. Headquartered in Santa Ana, California, the company serves customers throughout the United States as well as in Canada, Europe, Latin America and Asia. Its business is built on the underwriting capabilities of its title insurance operations combined with comprehensive closing and escrow services for homebuyers, sellers, mortgage lenders and real estate professionals.

The company’s title insurance segment issues policies that protect property owners and mortgage lenders against defects in titles, liens or encumbrances that can arise during real property transactions.