StockNews.com Initiates Coverage on Performant Financial (NASDAQ:PFMT)

StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Performant Financial (NASDAQ:PFMT) in a research note released on Sunday morning. The firm issued a sell rating on the business services provider’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Craig Hallum raised shares of Performant Financial to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. B. Riley dropped their target price on shares of Performant Financial from $8.00 to $7.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 7th.

Performant Financial Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $278.72 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -35.60 and a beta of 0.09. Performant Financial has a 52 week low of $2.37 and a 52 week high of $4.35. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $3.49 and a 200-day moving average of $3.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 2.67 and a current ratio of 2.67.

Performant Financial (NASDAQ:PFMT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The business services provider reported ($0.03) earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of ($0.03). Performant Financial had a negative return on equity of 10.19% and a negative net margin of 6.74%. The firm had revenue of $31.52 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $31.70 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($0.01) earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Performant Financial will post -0.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Performant Financial

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in Performant Financial by 18.4% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 200,208 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $581,000 after buying an additional 31,075 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers raised its position in shares of Performant Financial by 32.1% in the 2nd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 84,953 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $246,000 after acquiring an additional 20,637 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Performant Financial by 12.9% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 526,277 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,526,000 after purchasing an additional 60,300 shares during the period. First Eagle Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Performant Financial by 1.7% during the second quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 2,256,841 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $6,545,000 after purchasing an additional 37,500 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in Performant Financial in the third quarter worth $91,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.15% of the company’s stock.

About Performant Financial

Performant Financial Corporation provides technology-enabled audit, recovery, and analytics services in the United States. The company identifies improper payments resulting from incorrect coding, procedures that were not medically necessary, incomplete documentation or claims submitted based on outdated fee schedules, and coverage discrepancies; and provides first party call center and other outsourced services.