First Advantage Co. (NYSE:FA) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

First Advantage Co. (NYSE:FA) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the seven brokerages that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $77.25.

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of First Advantage in a research note on Wednesday. Wolfe Research cut shares of First Advantage from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of First Advantage from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of First Advantage in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Truist Financial lowered their target price on shares of First Advantage from $250.00 to $249.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 22nd.

Institutional Trading of First Advantage

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of First Advantage by 50.8% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,600,026 shares of the company’s stock valued at $111,161,000 after acquiring an additional 1,886,716 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of First Advantage by 1.3% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 418,580 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,309,000 after acquiring an additional 5,361 shares during the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of First Advantage during the third quarter valued at about $250,000. Jennison Associates LLC bought a new position in shares of First Advantage during the third quarter valued at about $6,628,000. Finally, LMR Partners LLP raised its stake in shares of First Advantage by 104.3% during the third quarter. LMR Partners LLP now owns 26,246 shares of the company’s stock valued at $521,000 after acquiring an additional 13,400 shares during the last quarter. 94.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

First Advantage Stock Performance

Shares of FA opened at $18.02 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 4.31 and a quick ratio of 4.31. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $19.15 and a 200-day moving average of $17.61. The company has a market cap of $2.62 billion, a PE ratio of 600.67 and a beta of 1.18. First Advantage has a one year low of $13.79 and a one year high of $20.79.

First Advantage (NYSE:FA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The company reported $0.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $199.10 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $204.39 million. First Advantage had a return on equity of 13.21% and a net margin of 0.65%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.25 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that First Advantage will post 0.82 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.