First Advantage’s (FA) “Outperform” Rating Reaffirmed at Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada reiterated their outperform rating on shares of First Advantage (NYSE:FA) in a report issued on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. Royal Bank of Canada currently has a $22.00 target price on the stock.

Other research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of First Advantage in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Wolfe Research lowered First Advantage from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of First Advantage from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Barclays restated an “overweight” rating and set a $22.00 target price on shares of First Advantage in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets started coverage on First Advantage in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $20.00 price target for the company. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $53.29.

First Advantage Trading Down 0.8 %

First Advantage stock opened at $18.42 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 3.85 and a current ratio of 3.85. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $18.72 and a 200 day simple moving average of $18.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 614.00 and a beta of 1.17. First Advantage has a 52 week low of $14.01 and a 52 week high of $20.79.

First Advantage (NYSE:FA) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The company reported $0.26 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by $0.01. First Advantage had a return on equity of 13.16% and a net margin of 0.65%. The business had revenue of $199.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $204.39 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.25 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that First Advantage will post 0.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of First Advantage

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of FA. FMR LLC grew its position in 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 period. Cortland Associates Inc. MO bought a new position in shares of First Advantage in the fourth quarter valued at $24,328,000. Fred Alger Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of First Advantage during the second quarter valued at about $12,906,000. Jennison Associates LLC bought a new stake in shares of First Advantage during the third quarter worth about $6,628,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of First Advantage by 8.8% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,131,188 shares of the company’s stock worth $50,314,000 after acquiring an additional 254,219 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.