US Title Insurance Stocks Plunge 8%... 600 Billion Won Vanishes in a Day

First American Financial Corp (FAF) shares plunged 8.11% on March 18 in New York, closing at $58.78, as trading volume jumped to about 1.51 million shares—well above the norm. The company’s market capitalization shrank to roughly $5.9 billion, wiping out approximately $450 million in value in a single day.

In its full-year 2025 results announced on February 11, First American reported a marked year-over-year improvement, with annual revenue of $7.5 billion and net income of $622 million. Throughout February, the company disclosed a series of governance and shareholder-return actions: a director repurchased $40,000 worth of shares, a board member resigned, and on March 9 it declared a quarterly dividend of $0.55 per share.

Founded more than 130 years ago, First American Financial is a financial services firm that provides title insurance as well as closing and escrow services to the U.S. real estate and mortgage markets. Its results are highly sensitive to transaction volume and interest-rate cycles. In recent years, large-scale data breaches, cyberattacks, and related regulatory actions have underscored IT and security risk management as critical investment considerations.