First Advantage (NYSE:FA) Now Covered by Analysts at William Blair

William Blair started coverage on shares of First Advantage (NYSE:FA) in a research report released on Tuesday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The firm issued an outperform rating on the stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of First Advantage from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of First Advantage from $16.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, First Advantage has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $18.00.

First Advantage Stock Up 5.9 %

FA opened at $16.41 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 4.39, a current ratio of 4.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. First Advantage has a twelve month low of $12.10 and a twelve month high of $17.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 65.64, a PEG ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 1.22. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $16.05 and a 200-day moving average price of $15.54.

First Advantage (NYSE:FA) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 29th. The company reported $0.27 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $202.56 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $211.05 million. First Advantage had a net margin of 4.88% and a return on equity of 13.84%. Equities research analysts forecast that First Advantage will post 0.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at First Advantage

In other First Advantage news, insider Joseph K. Jaeger sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.95, for a total transaction of $339,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 696,298 shares in the company, valued at $11,802,251.10. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 4.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of First Advantage

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Cat Rock Capital Management LP boosted its position in shares of First Advantage by 10.0% during the fourth quarter. Cat Rock Capital Management LP now owns 3,325,859 shares of the company’s stock worth $55,109,000 after buying an additional 303,000 shares during the period. Sunriver Management LLC grew its position in First Advantage by 26.4% in the 4th quarter. Sunriver Management LLC now owns 1,151,665 shares of the company’s stock valued at $19,083,000 after acquiring an additional 240,464 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in First Advantage by 16.3% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 22,889 shares of the company’s stock worth $379,000 after purchasing an additional 3,207 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of First Advantage by 10.6% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,660,820 shares of the company’s stock valued at $44,090,000 after purchasing an additional 255,807 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of First Advantage by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 406,641 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,738,000 after purchasing an additional 8,958 shares in the last quarter. 94.91% of the stock is 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.