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

First Advantage Co. (NYSE:FA) has earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the seven analysts that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $77.25.

FA has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Truist Financial decreased 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. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of 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 reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of First Advantage in a research note on Wednesday. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of First Advantage in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Wolfe Research cut shares of First Advantage from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On First Advantage

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in FA. Quarry LP boosted its holdings in First Advantage by 49.7% in the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 2,607 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 865 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP bought a new position in First Advantage in the second quarter worth approximately $209,000. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in First Advantage in the second quarter worth approximately $211,000. Truist Financial Corp bought a new position in First Advantage in the second quarter worth approximately $234,000. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC bought a new position in First Advantage in the third quarter worth approximately $250,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.91% of the company’s stock.

First Advantage Price Performance

FA stock opened at $18.02 on Thursday. First Advantage has a 1 year low of $13.79 and a 1 year high of $20.79. The company has a market cap of $2.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 600.67 and a beta of 1.18. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $19.15 and a 200 day moving average of $17.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 4.31 and a quick ratio of 4.31.

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

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.