First Advantage (NYSE:FA) Lowered to Sector Perform Rating by Royal Bank of Canada

First Advantage (NYSE:FA) was downgraded by equities research analysts at Royal Bank of Canada from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a report released on Friday, Marketbeat reports. They presently have a $20.00 price objective on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 13.25% from the company’s previous close.

Several other brokerages have also issued reports on FA. Barclays reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $15.00 price target (down previously from $20.00) on shares of First Advantage in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of First Advantage in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on shares of First Advantage from $24.00 to $22.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, First Advantage has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $65.40.

First Advantage Trading Down 1.0 %

FA opened at $17.66 on Friday. First Advantage has a 1-year low of $12.32 and a 1-year high of $20.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.07 billion, a PE ratio of 588.67 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a current ratio of 3.85, a quick ratio of 3.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $14.06 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $16.98.

First Advantage (NYSE:FA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $0.17 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.13 by $0.04. First Advantage had a net margin of 0.65% and a return on equity of 13.16%. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.17 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 109.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that First Advantage will post 0.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On First Advantage

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in First Advantage by 57.3% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 81,669 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,621,000 after acquiring an additional 29,752 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of First Advantage by 48.0% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,425,305 shares of the company’s stock worth $139,076,000 after purchasing an additional 2,409,233 shares in the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp grew its holdings in shares of First Advantage by 37.4% in the 4th quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 19,095 shares of the company’s stock valued at $358,000 after buying an additional 5,197 shares during the period. Cortland Associates Inc. MO bought a new stake in shares of First Advantage in the 4th quarter valued at $24,328,000. Finally, New York State Common Retirement Fund raised its stake in First Advantage by 29.8% during the 4th quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 387,320 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,255,000 after buying an additional 88,914 shares during the period. 94.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.