First Advantage Co. (NYSE:FA) Shares Sold by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. cut its stake in shares of First Advantage Co. (NYSE:FA – Get Rating) by 6.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 1,728,681 shares of the company’s stock after selling 127,102 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 1.14% of First Advantage worth $22,473,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FA. UBS Group AG acquired a new position in First Advantage during the third quarter worth $29,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its position in First Advantage by 157.9% during the third quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 5,244 shares of the company’s stock worth $67,000 after acquiring an additional 3,211 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada raised its position in First Advantage by 1,797.3% during the third quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 6,280 shares of the company’s stock worth $81,000 after acquiring an additional 5,949 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank acquired a new position in First Advantage during the second quarter worth $88,000. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its position in shares of First Advantage by 39.5% in the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 9,701 shares of the company’s stock valued at $126,000 after buying an additional 2,746 shares during the last quarter. 94.63% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

First Advantage Trading Down 2.2 %

Shares of FA opened at $13.00 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 6.54, a quick ratio of 6.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. First Advantage Co. has a 12-month low of $10.07 and a 12-month high of $15.89. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $13.18 and a 200 day moving average price of $13.17. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.24, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.16.

First Advantage (NYSE:FA – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 10th. The company reported $0.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.04. First Advantage had a net margin of 6.73% and a return on equity of 13.00%. The firm had revenue of $175.52 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $170.35 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.22 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that First Advantage Co. will post 1.02 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on FA shares. TheStreet upgraded shares of First Advantage from a “d+” rating to a “c-” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada cut shares of First Advantage from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and increased their target price for the company from $14.00 to $15.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 1st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, According to data from MarketBeat, First Advantage currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $14.40.

First Advantage Profile

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First Advantage Corporation provides technology solutions for screening, verifications, safety, and compliance related to human capital 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.