Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Buys Shares of 17,712 First American Financial Co. (NYSE:FAF)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. bought a new stake in First American Financial Co. (NYSE:FAF) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 17,712 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,106,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bar Harbor Wealth Management lifted its stake in First American Financial by 43.6% in the fourth quarter. Bar Harbor Wealth Management now owns 96,627 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $6,033,000 after acquiring an additional 29,324 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC raised its position in shares of First American Financial by 15.2% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 60,821 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $4,016,000 after purchasing an additional 8,047 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of First American Financial by 5.1% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 214,820 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $14,180,000 after purchasing an additional 10,489 shares during the period. Oak Thistle LLC bought a new position in shares of First American Financial in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,476,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of First American Financial by 0.8% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,700,903 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $112,306,000 after purchasing an additional 12,668 shares during the period. 89.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on FAF. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of First American Financial from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Stephens lifted their price target on shares of First American Financial from $73.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of First American Financial from $68.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on shares of First American Financial from $80.00 to $74.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, First American Financial has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $74.25.

First American Financial Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of FAF stock opened at $63.77 on Friday. First American Financial Co. has a 1 year low of $51.60 and a 1 year high of $70.92. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $62.73 and its 200 day simple moving average is $63.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 71.65 and a beta of 1.33.

First American Financial (NYSE:FAF) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The insurance provider reported $1.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.13 by $0.22. First American Financial had a net margin of 1.58% and a return on equity of 7.95%. Equities research analysts anticipate that First American Financial Co. will post 4.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First American Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a $0.54 dividend. This represents a $2.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.39%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. First American Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 242.70%.

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.