JPMorgan Chase & Co. Decreases Holdings in First Advantage Co. (NYSE:FA)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced its position in First Advantage Co. (NYSE:FA) by 30.6% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 4,434,900 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,956,226 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s holdings in First Advantage were worth $88,033,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in FA. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in First Advantage by 8.8% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,131,188 shares of the company’s stock worth $50,314,000 after buying an additional 254,219 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC purchased a new stake in shares of First Advantage during the third quarter worth about $676,000. Barclays PLC increased its holdings in shares of First Advantage by 57.3% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 81,669 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,621,000 after acquiring an additional 29,752 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of First Advantage by 50.8% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,600,026 shares of the company’s stock valued at $111,161,000 after purchasing an additional 1,886,716 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. boosted its stake in First Advantage by 27.5% in the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 126,159 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,027,000 after purchasing an additional 27,237 shares in the last quarter. 94.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FA has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Wolfe Research cut shares of First Advantage from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of First Advantage in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. BMO Capital Markets began coverage on First Advantage in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $20.00 price target on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada assumed coverage on First Advantage in a research note on Friday, November 15th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $22.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $22.00 target price on shares of First Advantage in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, First Advantage has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $53.29.

First Advantage Trading Down 1.6 %

First Advantage stock opened at $18.43 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.18 billion, a PE ratio of 614.33 and a beta of 1.17. First Advantage Co. has a 12 month low of $14.01 and a 12 month high of $20.79. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $18.72 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $18.23. The company has a current ratio of 3.85, a quick ratio of 3.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61.

First Advantage (NYSE:FA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The company reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.25 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $199.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $204.39 million. First Advantage had a net margin of 0.65% and a return on equity of 13.16%. The firm’s revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.25 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that First Advantage Co. will post 0.75 earnings per share for the current year.

First Advantage 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.