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

First Advantage Co. (NYSE:FA) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eight analysts that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $66.20.

A number of equities analysts recently commented on FA shares. Citigroup lifted their price target on First Advantage from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Wolfe Research lowered First Advantage from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of First Advantage in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Royal Bank of Canada initiated coverage on shares of First Advantage in a report on Friday. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $22.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Truist Financial cut their target price on shares of First Advantage from $250.00 to $249.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 22nd.

First Advantage Stock Down 1.0 %

FA stock opened at $17.32 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $2.99 billion, a price-to-earnings 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 business has a 50 day moving average price of $19.05 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $17.64. The company has a quick ratio of 4.31, a current ratio of 3.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61.

First Advantage (NYSE:FA) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The company reported $0.26 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $199.10 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.25 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that First Advantage will post 0.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On First Advantage

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in FA. MQS Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of First Advantage during the 1st quarter valued at $334,000. Capital Research Global Investors grew its stake in First Advantage by 9.4% during the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 5,777,481 shares of the company’s stock worth $93,711,000 after buying an additional 496,898 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in First Advantage by 16.2% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 15,478 shares of the company’s stock valued at $252,000 after buying an additional 2,163 shares during the period. Paloma Partners Management Co acquired a new position in shares of First Advantage in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $357,000. Finally, Boston Partners lifted its holdings in shares of First Advantage by 155.3% during the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 1,713,935 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,841,000 after acquiring an additional 1,042,473 shares during the period. 94.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.