First Advantage Co. (NYSE:FA) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

First Advantage Co. (NYSE:FA) has received a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the eight ratings firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $66.00.

FA has been the subject of several recent research reports. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of First Advantage in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada cut shares of First Advantage from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and set a $20.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of First Advantage from $15.00 to $18.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of First Advantage in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on shares of First Advantage from $24.00 to $22.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 3rd.

First Advantage Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:FA opened at $18.17 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $3.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 605.67 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 3.85 and a quick ratio of 3.85. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $15.69 and a 200 day simple moving average of $16.93. First Advantage has a one year low of $12.32 and a one year high of $20.79.

First Advantage (NYSE:FA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $0.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.13 by $0.04. First Advantage had a net margin of 0.65% and a return on equity of 13.16%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.17 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 109.3% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that First Advantage will post 0.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On First Advantage

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. FMR LLC grew its holdings in First Advantage by 49.1% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 8,350,192 shares of the company’s stock worth $156,399,000 after purchasing an additional 2,750,166 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in First Advantage by 48.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,425,305 shares of the company’s stock worth $139,076,000 after purchasing an additional 2,409,233 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors grew its holdings in First Advantage by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 6,223,937 shares of the company’s stock worth $116,574,000 after purchasing an additional 286,456 shares during the period. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in First Advantage by 246.4% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 5,227,076 shares of the company’s stock worth $97,903,000 after purchasing an additional 3,718,096 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in First Advantage by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,485,369 shares of the company’s stock worth $84,011,000 after purchasing an additional 50,469 shares during the period. 94.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.