Performant Financial (NASDAQ:PFMT) Coverage Initiated at B. Riley

B. Riley initiated coverage on shares of Performant Financial (NASDAQ:PFMT) in a report issued on Thursday, MarketBeat reports. The firm issued a buy rating and a $8.00 price objective on the business services provider’s stock.

Separately, StockNews.com cut shares of Performant Financial from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report on Thursday, May 9th.

Performant Financial Price Performance

PFMT stock opened at $3.58 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 2.75 and a current ratio of 2.75. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $2.94 and a 200 day simple moving average of $2.87. Performant Financial has a 52 week low of $2.00 and a 52 week high of $3.62.

Performant Financial (NASDAQ:PFMT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The business services provider reported ($0.05) EPS for the quarter. The company had revenue of $27.33 million for the quarter. Performant Financial had a negative return on equity of 9.30% and a negative net margin of 6.34%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Performant Financial will post -0.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Performant Financial

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in Performant Financial by 18.4% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 200,208 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $581,000 after acquiring an additional 31,075 shares during the last quarter. Mirador Capital Partners LP lifted its stake in Performant Financial by 2.8% in the second quarter. Mirador Capital Partners LP now owns 2,051,195 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $5,948,000 after acquiring an additional 55,400 shares during the last quarter. Kent Lake Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Performant Financial in the first quarter valued at approximately $588,000. First Light Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Performant Financial by 8.7% in the first quarter. First Light Asset Management LLC now owns 10,515,127 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $30,914,000 after acquiring an additional 845,017 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Performant Financial by 1.6% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,663,336 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $10,770,000 after purchasing an additional 59,043 shares during the period. 77.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.