Barclays Reiterates Overweight Rating for First Advantage (NYSE:FA)

First Advantage (NYSE:FA)‘s stock had its “overweight” rating reissued by research analysts at Barclays in a note issued to investors on Wednesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They presently have a $22.00 price objective on the stock. Barclays‘s price target would indicate a potential upside of 18.22% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other research analysts have also commented on FA. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of First Advantage in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Citigroup raised 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. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of First Advantage in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of First Advantage from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada initiated coverage on shares of First Advantage in a research report on Friday, November 15th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $22.00 target price for the company. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $58.83.

First Advantage Trading Up 2.0 %

NYSE:FA opened at $18.61 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $18.99 and its 200-day simple moving average is $17.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 3.85 and a quick ratio of 3.85. First Advantage has a fifty-two week low of $13.88 and a fifty-two week high of $20.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.21 billion, a PE ratio of 620.30 and a beta of 1.18.

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On First Advantage

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. FMR LLC raised its stake in First Advantage by 50.8% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,600,026 shares of the company’s stock worth $111,161,000 after buying an additional 1,886,716 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners boosted its stake in shares of First Advantage by 155.3% in the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 1,713,935 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,841,000 after buying an additional 1,042,473 shares during the last quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of First Advantage during the 2nd quarter valued at about $12,906,000. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in shares of First Advantage by 9.4% during the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 5,777,481 shares of the company’s stock worth $93,711,000 after acquiring an additional 496,898 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC purchased a new stake in First Advantage in the third quarter worth about $6,628,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.91% of the company’s stock.

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.