First Advantage Co. (NYSE:FA) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

First Advantage Co. (NYSE:FA) has been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the ten research firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $53.29.

FA has been the topic of several research reports. BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on shares of First Advantage in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $20.00 price target on the stock. Wolfe Research cut First Advantage from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of First Advantage in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $22.00 price objective on shares of First Advantage in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada assumed coverage on First Advantage in a research note on Friday, November 15th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $22.00 target price for the company.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On First Advantage

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of First Advantage by 8.8% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,131,188 shares of the company’s stock valued at $50,314,000 after purchasing an additional 254,219 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC acquired a new position in First Advantage during the 3rd quarter worth $676,000. Barclays PLC raised its position in First Advantage by 57.3% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 81,669 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,621,000 after purchasing an additional 29,752 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of First Advantage by 50.8% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,600,026 shares of the company’s stock valued at $111,161,000 after buying an additional 1,886,716 shares during the period. Finally, Sei Investments Co. boosted its stake in shares of First Advantage by 27.5% in the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 126,159 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,027,000 after buying an additional 27,237 shares during the period. 94.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

First Advantage Trading Down 1.6 %

FA stock opened at $18.43 on Friday. First Advantage has a 12-month low of $14.01 and a 12-month high of $20.79. The business’s 50-day moving average is $18.72 and its 200 day moving average is $18.23. The company has a current ratio of 3.85, a quick ratio of 3.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The stock has a market cap of $3.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 614.33 and a beta of 1.17.

First Advantage (NYSE:FA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The company reported $0.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $199.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $204.39 million. First Advantage had a return on equity of 13.16% and a net margin of 0.65%. The business’s revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.25 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that First Advantage will post 0.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About First Advantage

First Advantage Corporation provides employment background screening, identity, and verification solutions worldwide. It offers pre-onboarding products and solutions, such as criminal background checks, drug/health screening, extended workforce screening, FBI channeling, identity checks and biometric fraud mitigation tools, education/work history verification, driver records and compliance, healthcare credentials, executive screening, and other screening products.