First American Financial Acquires Title Security Agency

First American Financial (NYSE:FAF) acquired the remaining stake in Title Security Agency, LLC, of which it had been a minority owner for five years.

The buyout of Title Security Agency will provide First American Financial exposure to title and escrow services for residential and commercial transactions in Arizona. The acquired company provides technical assistance to sellers, buyers, realtors, loan officers, and attorneys. The escrow officers of the company offer expert handling of the real estate transactions accurately, acting as a third party to the transaction through written instructions given by the principals.

This acquisition is expected to aid First American in expanding its abilities to cater to clients in Arizona. The combined entity is expected to deliver remarkable service and innovation.

With this acquisition, customers of Title Security Agency will get the benefit of enhanced underwriting resources and title production capabilities, along with access to other industry-leading resources for residential transactions.

First American offers financial services through its Title Insurance and Services segment and its Specialty Insurance segment. Its core business lines are title insurance and settlement services, title plant management services, title and other real property records and images, banking, trust, and investment advisory services.

First American pursues strategic acquisitions to strengthen its core business and expand its valuation and data businesses. The company has consolidated its capabilities with Forsythe Appraisals, RedVision and TD Service Financial. The company remains focused on making acquisitions in order to meet its risk-adjusted return target.

Shares of this Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) property and casualty insurer have gained 27.8% in a year’s time, outperforming the industry's growth of 17.1%.

Other Stocks to Consider

Some other top-ranked stocks from the insurance sector include Markel Corporation (NYSE:MKL) , Hallmark Financial Services (NASDAQ:HALL) and Palomar Holdings (NASDAQ:PLMR) . While Markel sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), Hallmark Financial and Palomar Holdings carry a Zacks Rank #2. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Markel is a diverse financial holding company. It markets and underwrites specialty insurance products in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and internationally. The company beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in two of the last four reported quarters, the average beat being 17.05%.

Hallmark Financial underwrites markets, distributes and services property and casualty insurance products in the United States. The company came up with average four-quarter positive surprise of 95.27%.

Palomar Holdings provides personal and commercial specialty property insurance products. The company beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in two of the last four reported quarters, the average beat being 15.85%.

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