First Advantage (NYSE:FA) Research Coverage Started at Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada initiated coverage on shares of First Advantage (NYSE:FA) in a research report sent to investors on Friday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage issued an outperform rating and a $22.00 price objective on the stock.

FA has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of First Advantage from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of First Advantage in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of First Advantage from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of First Advantage in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, Truist Financial reduced their price objective 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. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $66.20.

First Advantage Trading Down 2.0 %

FA opened at $17.50 on Friday. First Advantage has a 52 week low of $13.79 and a 52 week high of $20.79. The company has a market capitalization of $3.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 583.33 and a beta of 1.18. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $19.08 and its two-hundred day moving average is $17.63. The company has a quick ratio of 4.31, a current ratio of 3.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61.

First Advantage (NYSE:FA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 12th. The company reported $0.26 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.25 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $199.10 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $204.39 million. First Advantage had a return on equity of 13.16% and a net margin of 0.65%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.25 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that First Advantage will post 0.82 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On First Advantage

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of First Advantage by 50.8% in the third 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 period. Boston Partners lifted its stake in First Advantage by 155.3% during the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 1,713,935 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,841,000 after acquiring an additional 1,042,473 shares during the period. Fred Alger Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of First Advantage in the 2nd quarter valued at $12,906,000. Capital Research Global Investors increased its stake in shares of First Advantage by 9.4% in the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 5,777,481 shares of the company’s stock worth $93,711,000 after acquiring an additional 496,898 shares during the period. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC purchased a new position in shares of First Advantage during the third quarter worth $6,628,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.91% of the company’s stock.

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.