Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Purchases Shares of 109,264 First American Financial Corporation $FAF

Key Points

• Jefferies Financial Group disclosed a new fourth-quarter stake in First American Financial, buying 109,264 shares worth about $6.7 million.
• Insider selling continued recently, with SVP Lisa W. Cornehl and Director Margaret M. Mccarthy both trimming their holdings in separate transactions.
• First American Financial reported better-than-expected Q1 results, including EPS of $1.33 versus $1.06 expected, and raised attention from analysts, with the stock carrying a Buy consensus and an average target price of $82.50.

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of First American Financial Corporation (NYSE:FAF - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 109,264 shares of the insurance provider's stock, valued at approximately $6,713,000. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.11% of First American Financial as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Bar Harbor Wealth Management raised its position in shares of First American Financial by 52.4% during the 4th quarter. Bar Harbor Wealth Management now owns 135,649 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $8,334,000 after acquiring an additional 46,639 shares in the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH raised its position in shares of First American Financial by 10.6% during the 3rd quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 210,739 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $13,538,000 after acquiring an additional 20,188 shares in the last quarter. Channing Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of First American Financial by 16.9% during the 3rd quarter. Channing Capital Management LLC now owns 1,547,790 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $99,430,000 after acquiring an additional 224,277 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of First American Financial by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,293,573 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $275,816,000 after acquiring an additional 168,706 shares in the last quarter. Finally, US Bancorp DE raised its position in shares of First American Financial by 656.0% during the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 32,666 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $2,098,000 after acquiring an additional 28,345 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.05% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Lisa W. Cornehl sold 5,823 shares of First American Financial stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.63, for a total value of $399,632.49. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 29,635 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,033,850.05. The trade was a 16.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Margaret M. Mccarthy sold 6,630 shares of First American Financial stock in a transaction on Friday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.59, for a total value of $468,011.70. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 24,024 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,695,854.16. This represents a 21.63% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 3.50% of the company's stock.

First American Financial Price Performance

First American Financial stock opened at $68.20 on Tuesday. First American Financial Corporation has a 1-year low of $53.09 and a 1-year high of $71.47. The company has a market cap of $6.95 billion, a PE ratio of 10.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 1.28. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $64.83 and its 200 day moving average price is $64.41.

First American Financial (NYSE:FAF - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 22nd. The insurance provider reported $1.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.06 by $0.27. The firm had revenue of $1.85 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.80 billion. First American Financial had a return on equity of 12.58% and a net margin of 8.73%.First American Financial's revenue was up 16.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.84 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that First American Financial Corporation will post 6.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First American Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 8th will be issued a $0.55 dividend. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 8th. First American Financial's payout ratio is 33.79%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently issued reports on FAF. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a "buy" rating on shares of First American Financial in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Zacks Research upgraded First American Financial from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Truist Financial raised their price target on First American Financial from $82.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Barclays raised their price target on First American Financial from $72.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded First American Financial from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and six have issued a Buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $82.50.

First American Financial Company Profile

First American Financial Corporation is a leading provider of title insurance, settlement services and diversified real estate-related data and analytics. Headquartered in Santa Ana, California, the company serves customers throughout the United States as well as in Canada, Europe, Latin America and Asia. Its business is built on the underwriting capabilities of its title insurance operations combined with comprehensive closing and escrow services for homebuyers, sellers, mortgage lenders and real estate professionals.

The company's title insurance segment issues policies that protect property owners and mortgage lenders against defects in titles, liens or encumbrances that can arise during real property transactions.

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