Brokerages Set First Advantage Co. (NYSE:FA) Target Price at $77.25

First Advantage Co. (NYSE:FA) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the eight ratings firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $66.20.

FA has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wolfe Research cut First Advantage from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of First Advantage in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Citigroup upped their price objective on First Advantage from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Truist Financial cut their target price on shares of First Advantage from $250.00 to $249.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada initiated coverage on shares of First Advantage in a research report on Friday. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $22.00 price target for the company.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On First Advantage

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of FA. Quarry LP lifted its stake in First Advantage by 49.7% in the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 2,607 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 865 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP acquired a new position in shares of First Advantage during the 2nd quarter valued at $209,000. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in First Advantage during the second quarter worth $211,000. Truist Financial Corp bought a new position in First Advantage during the second quarter worth $234,000. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in First Advantage in the third quarter worth $250,000. Institutional investors own 94.91% of the company’s stock.

First Advantage Stock Performance

NYSE:FA opened at $17.32 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 4.31, a current ratio of 3.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.99 billion, a PE ratio of 577.33 and a beta of 1.18. First Advantage has a twelve month low of $13.88 and a twelve month high of $20.79. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $19.05 and its 200 day simple moving average is $17.64.

First Advantage (NYSE:FA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The company reported $0.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.25 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $199.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $204.39 million. First Advantage had a net margin of 0.65% and a return on equity of 13.16%. The firm’s revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.25 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that First Advantage will post 0.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First Advantage Company Profile

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.