D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. Sells 125,943 Shares of First American Financial Co. (NYSE:FAF)

D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. decreased its holdings in First American Financial Co. (NYSE:FAF - Free Report) by 51.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 116,783 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 125,943 shares during the quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. owned about 0.11% of First American Financial worth $7,292,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of FAF. UMB Bank n.a. raised its stake in First American Financial by 66.9% in the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 524 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 210 shares during the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its holdings in First American Financial by 57.6% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 670 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 245 shares in the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust grew its stake in shares of First American Financial by 14.8% in the fourth quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 1,340 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $84,000 after buying an additional 173 shares in the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of First American Financial by 18.0% during the 4th quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,510 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $94,000 after buying an additional 230 shares during the period. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in First American Financial by 314.7% in the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,592 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $162,000 after acquiring an additional 1,967 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.05% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have commented on FAF shares. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of First American Financial from $69.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Stephens increased their price objective on shares of First American Financial from $73.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on First American Financial from $75.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Finally, StockNews.com cut First American Financial from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $75.00.

First American Financial Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of FAF traded up $0.08 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $61.02. 1,010,146 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 661,899. First American Financial Co. has a 12-month low of $51.85 and a 12-month high of $70.92. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $61.87 and a 200-day simple moving average of $63.28. The company has a market cap of $6.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.82 and a beta of 1.29.

First American Financial (NYSE:FAF - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The insurance provider reported $0.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.65 by $0.19. First American Financial had a return on equity of 9.35% and a net margin of 2.14%. The firm had revenue of $1.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.53 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.45 EPS. The company's revenue was up 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that First American Financial Co. will post 5.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

First American Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a dividend of $0.54 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $2.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.54%. First American Financial's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 143.05%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other First American Financial news, SVP Lisa W. Cornehl sold 3,057 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.49, for a total value of $200,202.93. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 23,825 shares in the company, valued at $1,560,299.25. This represents a 11.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Mark Edward Seaton sold 12,679 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.28, for a total value of $815,006.12. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 195,812 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $12,586,795.36. The trade was a 6.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 3.70% of the company's stock.

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.