Stephenson & Company Inc. Acquires New Stake in First American Financial Co. (NYSE:FAF)

Stephenson & Company Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of First American Financial Co. (NYSE:FAF) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 3,534 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $228,000. First American Financial accounts for approximately 0.2% of Stephenson & Company Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 29th largest position.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in First American Financial by 2.1% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,031,143 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $779,858,000 after buying an additional 245,974 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. raised its position in First American Financial by 3.4% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 9,889,562 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $550,453,000 after purchasing an additional 329,543 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in First American Financial by 2.9% during the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,193,170 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $206,981,000 after purchasing an additional 90,276 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners raised its position in First American Financial by 17.6% during the third quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,169,320 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $178,994,000 after purchasing an additional 473,961 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in First American Financial by 2.8% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,671,456 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $150,911,000 after purchasing an additional 72,860 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.05% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. TheStreet downgraded First American Financial from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 12th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded First American Financial from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $66.00 to $69.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and set a $73.00 price target on shares of First American Financial in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft started coverage on First American Financial in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $68.00.

First American Financial Trading Up 2.4 %

FAF opened at $56.58 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $5.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.20 and a beta of 1.28. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $57.79 and its 200-day moving average price is $58.22. First American Financial Co. has a 12 month low of $49.55 and a 12 month high of $65.54.

First American Financial (NYSE:FAF) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 8th. The insurance provider reported $0.69 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.75 by ($0.06). First American Financial had a return on equity of 8.27% and a net margin of 3.61%. The company had revenue of $1.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.47 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.35 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that First American Financial Co. will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

First American Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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 yield of 3.75%. First American Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 101.92%.

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.