Jane Street Group LLC Sells 40,597 Shares of First Advantage Co. (NYSE:FA)

Jane Street Group LLC trimmed its stake in shares of First Advantage Co. (NYSE:FA) by 52.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 36,674 shares of the company’s stock after selling 40,597 shares during the quarter. Jane Street Group LLC’s holdings in First Advantage were worth $728,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of FA. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in First Advantage by 50.8% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,600,026 shares of the company’s stock worth $111,161,000 after purchasing an additional 1,886,716 shares during the last quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of First Advantage during the second quarter worth $12,906,000. Jennison Associates LLC bought a new stake in shares of First Advantage in the third quarter valued at about $6,628,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew 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 acquiring an additional 254,219 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp increased its position in First Advantage by 6.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,253,081 shares of the company’s stock worth $24,874,000 after acquiring an additional 72,400 shares during the period. 94.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup increased their target price on First Advantage from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $22.00 price objective on shares of First Advantage in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of First Advantage in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on shares of First Advantage in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $20.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Wolfe Research cut shares of First Advantage from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $53.29.

First Advantage Stock Performance

Shares of FA opened at $18.43 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $18.72 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $18.23. First Advantage Co. has a 12 month low of $14.01 and a 12 month high of $20.79. 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 capitalization of $3.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 614.33 and a beta of 1.17.

First Advantage (NYSE:FA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 12th. The company reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.25 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $199.10 million during 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 company’s quarterly revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.25 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that First Advantage Co. will post 0.75 EPS for the current 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.