First Advantage Co. (NYSE:FA) Receives $53.29 Average Target Price from Analysts

Shares of First Advantage Co. (NYSE:FA) have earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the ten research firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and seven have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $53.29.

Several analysts have recently commented on FA shares. Citigroup raised their target price on First Advantage from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Royal Bank of Canada initiated coverage on First Advantage in a report on Friday, November 15th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $22.00 price objective for the company. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of First Advantage in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of First Advantage in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Wolfe Research lowered shares of First Advantage from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On First Advantage

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FA. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in First Advantage by 8.8% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,131,188 shares of the company’s stock worth $50,314,000 after purchasing an additional 254,219 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC purchased a new position in shares of First Advantage in the 3rd quarter worth about $676,000. Barclays PLC grew its position in 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 buying an additional 29,752 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its holdings in First Advantage by 50.8% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,600,026 shares of the company’s stock worth $111,161,000 after buying 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 second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 126,159 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,027,000 after acquiring an additional 27,237 shares during the last quarter. 94.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

First Advantage Price Performance

Shares of FA opened at $17.91 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.09 billion, a PE ratio of 597.00 and a beta of 1.17. First Advantage has a 52-week low of $14.01 and a 52-week high of $20.79. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $18.75 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $18.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 3.85 and a current ratio of 3.85.

First Advantage (NYSE:FA) last released its 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. First Advantage had a net margin of 0.65% and a return on equity of 13.16%. The company had revenue of $199.10 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $204.39 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.25 EPS. First Advantage’s quarterly revenue was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that First Advantage will post 0.75 EPS for the current 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.