Legal & General Group Plc Decreases Position in First American Financial Co. (NYSE:FAF)

Legal & General Group Plc lowered its stake in First American Financial Co. (NYSE:FAF - Free Report) by 4.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 219,413 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 11,426 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc owned 0.21% of First American Financial worth $13,700,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 107,925 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in First American Financial by 20.8% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,046,743 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $377,559,000 after acquiring an additional 1,042,145 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its position in First American Financial by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,573,788 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $160,707,000 after acquiring an additional 78,022 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in First American Financial by 19.8% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,735,557 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $108,368,000 after purchasing an additional 286,711 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of First American Financial by 0.8% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,700,903 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $112,306,000 after purchasing an additional 12,668 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.05% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FAF has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Stephens increased their price objective on shares of First American Financial from $73.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded First American Financial from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $75.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th.

First American Financial Stock Up 0.5 %

FAF stock traded up $0.32 during trading on Friday, hitting $59.24. The company had a trading volume of 592,171 shares, compared to its average volume of 654,374. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $63.35 and a 200-day moving average price of $63.94. First American Financial Co. has a 1-year low of $51.60 and a 1-year high of $70.92. The firm has a market cap of $6.11 billion, a PE ratio of 47.39 and a beta of 1.23.

First American Financial (NYSE:FAF - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The insurance provider reported $1.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.13 by $0.22. First American Financial had a return on equity of 9.35% and a net margin of 2.14%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that First American Financial Co. will post 5.35 earnings per share for the current year.

First American Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a $0.54 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $2.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.65%. First American Financial's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 172.80%.

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.