First Advantage (NYSE:FA) Sees Large Volume Increase – Here’s What Happened

First Advantage Co. (NYSE:FA) saw strong trading volume on Thursday . 1,919,062 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 326% from the previous session’s volume of 450,478 shares.The stock last traded at $18.22 and had previously closed at $18.70.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

First Advantage Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $2.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 115.94 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a current ratio of 4.31, a quick ratio of 4.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $19.30 and a 200-day moving average price of $17.43.

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of FA. Quarry LP boosted its holdings in First Advantage by 49.7% during the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 2,607 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 865 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP bought a new position in shares of First Advantage in the second quarter worth about $209,000. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in First Advantage in the 2nd quarter worth about $211,000. Truist Financial Corp bought a new stake in First Advantage during the 2nd quarter valued at about $234,000. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in First Advantage by 16.2% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 15,478 shares of the company’s stock worth $252,000 after acquiring an additional 2,163 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.91% of the company’s stock.

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.