First Advantage (NYSE:FA) Reaches New 1-Year High – Here’s What Happened

First Advantage Co. (NYSE:FA)’s share price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $20.17 and last traded at $20.17, with a volume of 10010 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $20.00.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FA has been the subject of several analyst reports. Wolfe Research downgraded First Advantage from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on shares of First Advantage from $250.00 to $249.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of First Advantage from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $77.25.

First Advantage Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 4.31 and a current ratio of 4.31. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $19.08 and a 200-day moving average of $17.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.94 billion, a PE ratio of 92.05 and a beta of 1.16.

First Advantage (NYSE:FA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The company reported $0.21 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.21. The business had revenue of $184.55 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $184.66 million. First Advantage had a net margin of 3.24% and a return on equity of 13.94%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.24 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that First Advantage Co. will post 0.82 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On First Advantage

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Quarry LP grew its stake in First Advantage by 49.7% in the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 2,607 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 865 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of First Advantage by 6.3% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 24,336 shares of the company’s stock worth $395,000 after purchasing an additional 1,447 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of First Advantage by 16.2% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 15,478 shares of the company’s stock valued at $252,000 after buying an additional 2,163 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in shares of First Advantage by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 258,265 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,150,000 after buying an additional 2,326 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in First Advantage by 8.0% in the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 36,261 shares of the company’s stock worth $583,000 after buying an additional 2,700 shares during 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.