Boussard & Gavaudan Investment Management LLP Purchases Shares of 21,946 First Advantage Co. (NYSE:FA)

Boussard & Gavaudan Investment Management LLP acquired a new stake in First Advantage Co. (NYSE:FA) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 21,946 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $434,000.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of First Advantage by 50.8% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,600,026 shares of the company’s stock worth $111,161,000 after buying an additional 1,886,716 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in First Advantage by 1.3% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 418,580 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,309,000 after acquiring an additional 5,361 shares during the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of First Advantage during the third quarter worth approximately $250,000. Jennison Associates LLC acquired a new position in shares of First Advantage in the third quarter valued at approximately $6,628,000. Finally, LMR Partners LLP increased its stake in shares of First Advantage by 104.3% during the third quarter. LMR Partners LLP now owns 26,246 shares of the company’s stock worth $521,000 after purchasing an additional 13,400 shares during the period. 94.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently issued reports on FA. Citigroup boosted their price target on First Advantage from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Wolfe Research cut shares of First Advantage from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Barclays restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $22.00 price target on shares of First Advantage in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of First Advantage in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada initiated coverage on shares of First Advantage in a research report on Friday, November 15th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $22.00 target price on the stock. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $58.83.

First Advantage Stock Performance

NYSE:FA opened at $19.28 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 3.85, a current ratio of 3.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.33 billion, a PE ratio of 642.67 and a beta of 1.18. First Advantage Co. has a twelve month low of $13.88 and a twelve month high of $20.79. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $18.99 and its 200 day simple moving average is $17.75.

First Advantage (NYSE:FA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The company reported $0.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.25 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $199.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $204.39 million. First Advantage had a net margin of 0.65% and a return on equity of 13.16%. The firm’s revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.25 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that First Advantage Co. will post 0.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First Advantage Company Profile

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.