Brokerages Set First American Financial Co. (NYSE:FAF) Target Price at $68.00

First American Financial Co. (NYSE:FAF) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the six ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $67.75.

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of First American Financial from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $66.00 to $69.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $72.00 price target on shares of First American Financial in a research report on Thursday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on shares of First American Financial in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. Finally, TheStreet cut shares of First American Financial from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 12th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On First American Financial

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in FAF. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in First American Financial by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,127,746 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $572,116,000 after buying an additional 81,888 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners increased its stake in First American Financial by 13.4% in the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,594,563 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $231,608,000 after buying an additional 425,243 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in First American Financial by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,059,361 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $197,148,000 after buying an additional 94,854 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in First American Financial by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,680,947 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $172,760,000 after buying an additional 9,491 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in First American Financial by 6.7% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,135,149 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $120,615,000 after buying an additional 133,807 shares during the last quarter. 89.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

First American Financial Stock Performance

Shares of FAF stock opened at $54.22 on Tuesday. First American Financial has a 52-week low of $49.55 and a 52-week high of $65.54. The stock has a market cap of $5.62 billion, a PE ratio of 25.94 and a beta of 1.28. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $57.50 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $58.27.

First American Financial (NYSE:FAF) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The insurance provider reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.67 by ($0.22). The business had revenue of $1.42 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.42 billion. First American Financial had a net margin of 3.64% and a return on equity of 8.18%. First American Financial’s revenue was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.49 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that First American Financial will post 4.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

First American Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Investors of record on Friday, March 8th were issued a dividend of $0.53 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. This represents a $2.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.91%. First American Financial’s payout ratio is 101.44%.

About First American Financial

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.