Gabelli Funds LLC Boosts Stake in First American Financial Corporation $FAF

Gabelli Funds LLC lifted its position in First American Financial Corporation (NYSE:FAF) by 24.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 98,962 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 19,600 shares during the period. Gabelli Funds LLC owned 0.10% of First American Financial worth $5,966,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its stake in First American Financial by 121.3% in the first quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 1,483 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $97,000 after purchasing an additional 813 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in First American Financial by 10.8% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 293,058 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $19,233,000 after buying an additional 28,666 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its position in First American Financial by 7.1% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 414,146 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $27,180,000 after buying an additional 27,600 shares during the period. Jane Street Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of First American Financial by 182.5% during the 1st quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 67,572 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $4,435,000 after buying an additional 43,651 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Focus Partners Wealth boosted its holdings in shares of First American Financial by 11.3% during the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 4,282 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $281,000 after buying an additional 435 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.05% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FAF has been the subject of several research reports. Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $84.00 price target on shares of First American Financial in a research note on Friday, June 12th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of First American Financial from $84.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of First American Financial from $82.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of First American Financial from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 2nd. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of First American Financial from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 23rd. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $84.60.

First American Financial Trading Up 1.5%

NYSE FAF opened at $76.25 on Tuesday. First American Financial Corporation has a 12 month low of $56.20 and a 12 month high of $76.80. The stock has a market cap of $7.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.56, a P/E/G ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 1.23. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $68.54 and its 200-day moving average price is $66.09.

First American Financial (NYSE:FAF) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The insurance provider reported $2.08 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.80 by $0.28. The firm had revenue of $2.11 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.03 billion. First American Financial had a return on equity of 13.31% and a net margin of 9.33%.The company’s revenue was up 15.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.53 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that First American Financial Corporation will post 6.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

First American Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 8th were paid a dividend of $0.55 per share. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 8th. First American Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 30.47%.

Insider Transactions at First American Financial

In other First American Financial news, SVP Lisa W. Cornehl sold 5,823 shares of First American Financial stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.63, for a total value of $399,632.49. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 29,635 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,033,850.05. The trade was a 16.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 3.50% of the company’s stock.

First American Financial Company Profile

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.