Channing Capital Management LLC Buys Shares of 129,804 First American Financial Co. (NYSE:FAF)

Channing Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of First American Financial Co. (NYSE:FAF) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 129,804 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $8,365,000. Channing Capital Management LLC owned about 0.13% of First American Financial at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of FAF. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in First American Financial by 0.8% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,127,746 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $572,116,000 after purchasing an additional 81,888 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners lifted its position in shares of First American Financial by 17.6% during the 3rd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,169,320 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $178,994,000 after buying an additional 473,961 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of First American Financial by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,671,456 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $150,911,000 after acquiring an additional 72,860 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in First American Financial by 6.7% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,135,149 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $120,615,000 after acquiring an additional 133,807 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. raised its stake in First American Financial by 46.1% during the 4th quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 1,229,294 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $79,216,000 after acquiring an additional 387,848 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.05% of the company’s stock.

First American Financial Stock Up 0.5 %

FAF stock traded up $0.29 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $54.38. The company had a trading volume of 524,366 shares, compared to its average volume of 686,033. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $57.10 and a 200 day moving average price of $58.37. First American Financial Co. has a 12-month low of $49.55 and a 12-month high of $65.54. The company has a market capitalization of $5.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.02 and a beta of 1.28.

First American Financial (NYSE:FAF) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The insurance provider reported $0.45 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.67 by ($0.22). The firm had revenue of $1.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.42 billion. First American Financial had a return on equity of 8.17% and a net margin of 3.64%. First American Financial’s quarterly revenue was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.49 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that First American Financial Co. will post 4.28 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on FAF shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on shares of First American Financial in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. TheStreet lowered First American Financial from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 12th. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $72.00 price objective on shares of First American Financial in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised First American Financial from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $66.00 to $69.00 in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $67.75.

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.