Advantage Alpha Capital Partners LP Purchases New Shares in First American Financial Co. (NYSE:FAF)

Advantage Alpha Capital Partners LP acquired a new position in shares of First American Financial Co. (NYSE:FAF) in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 77,734 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $5,131,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Boston Partners increased its stake in shares of First American Financial by 13.3% during the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 4,074,181 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $248,237,000 after purchasing an additional 479,618 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in First American Financial by 16.5% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,647,709 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $196,793,000 after purchasing an additional 515,710 shares in the last quarter. Ariel Investments LLC grew its position in shares of First American Financial by 2.8% in the second quarter. Ariel Investments LLC now owns 3,609,697 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $194,743,000 after purchasing an additional 97,158 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of First American Financial by 19.4% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,495,766 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $164,746,000 after purchasing an additional 405,146 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. lifted its position in First American Financial by 4.6% during the third quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 1,493,111 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $98,560,000 after buying an additional 66,290 shares in the last quarter. 89.05% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Stephens upped their price objective on shares of First American Financial from $66.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Truist Financial upped their price target on First American Financial from $68.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of First American Financial from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on First American Financial from $66.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, First American Financial has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $72.50.

First American Financial Trading Up 3.0 %

Shares of FAF opened at $69.64 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 78.25 and a beta of 1.29. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $64.92 and its 200-day simple moving average is $60.37. First American Financial Co. has a twelve month low of $51.60 and a twelve month high of $70.92.

First American Financial (NYSE:FAF) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The insurance provider reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.15 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $1.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.66 billion. First American Financial had a return on equity of 7.95% and a net margin of 1.58%. First American Financial’s quarterly revenue was down 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.22 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that First American Financial Co. will post 4.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

First American Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th will be issued a $0.54 dividend. This represents a $2.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.10%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. First American Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 242.70%.

First American Financial 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.