StockNews.com Initiates Coverage on Performant Financial (NASDAQ:PFMT)

StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Performant Financial (NASDAQ:PFMT) in a report released on Saturday morning. The brokerage issued a sell rating on the business services provider’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently commented on the company. B. Riley cut their price objective on Performant Financial from $8.00 to $7.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Craig Hallum raised Performant Financial to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st.

Performant Financial Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 2.67 and a quick ratio of 2.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $278.72 million, a P/E ratio of -35.60 and a beta of 0.09. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $3.49 and a 200 day moving average price of $3.37. Performant Financial has a 52-week low of $2.37 and a 52-week high of $4.35.

Performant Financial (NASDAQ:PFMT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The business services provider reported ($0.03) EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.03). Performant Financial had a negative net margin of 6.74% and a negative return on equity of 10.19%. The business had revenue of $31.52 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $31.70 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.01) EPS. Equities analysts expect that Performant Financial will post -0.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Performant Financial

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in Performant Financial by 18.4% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 200,208 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $581,000 after purchasing an additional 31,075 shares in the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers grew its holdings in shares of Performant Financial by 32.1% during the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 84,953 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $246,000 after buying an additional 20,637 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Performant Financial by 12.9% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 526,277 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,526,000 after buying an additional 60,300 shares during the period. First Eagle Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Performant Financial by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 2,256,841 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $6,545,000 after acquiring an additional 37,500 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in Performant Financial during the 3rd quarter worth about $91,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.15% of the company’s stock.

Performant Financial Company Profile

Performant Financial Corporation provides technology-enabled audit, recovery, and analytics services in the United States. The company identifies improper payments resulting from incorrect coding, procedures that were not medically necessary, incomplete documentation or claims submitted based on outdated fee schedules, and coverage discrepancies; and provides first party call center and other outsourced services.