Northern Trust Corp Grows Holdings in First American Financial Co. (NYSE:FAF)

Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of First American Financial Co. (NYSE:FAF - Free Report) by 5.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,030,622 shares of the insurance provider's stock after acquiring an additional 53,513 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp owned about 1.00% of First American Financial worth $64,352,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. UMB Bank n.a. raised its stake in First American Financial by 66.9% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised 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 worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 245 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of First American Financial by 34.9% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,071 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $67,000 after acquiring an additional 277 shares in the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust boosted its stake in First American Financial by 14.8% during the fourth quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 1,340 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $84,000 after acquiring an additional 173 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of First American Financial by 18.0% in the 4th quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,510 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $94,000 after buying an additional 230 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.05% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Insider Activity

In other First American Financial news, CFO Mark Edward Seaton sold 12,679 shares of the firm's 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 195,812 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $12,586,795.36. This trade represents a 6.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Lisa W. Cornehl sold 3,057 shares of First American Financial 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 23,825 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,560,299.25. This represents a 11.37% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 127,707 shares of company stock worth $8,136,565. Corporate insiders own 3.70% of the company's stock.

First American Financial Price Performance

Shares of First American Financial stock traded up $0.70 during trading on Monday, reaching $60.52. 60,107 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 656,333. First American Financial Co. has a 52-week low of $51.85 and a 52-week high of $70.92. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $62.21 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $63.41. The company has a market capitalization of $6.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.25 and a beta of 1.29.

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

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.