Performant Financial (NASDAQ:PFMT) Earns Buy Rating from Analysts at B. Riley

B. Riley started coverage on shares of Performant Financial (NASDAQ:PFMT) in a report published on Thursday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The firm issued a buy rating and a $8.00 target price on the business services provider’s stock.

Separately, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Performant Financial from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report on Thursday, May 9th.

Performant Financial Price Performance

Shares of Performant Financial stock opened at $3.58 on Thursday. Performant Financial has a 1 year low of $2.00 and a 1 year high of $3.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 2.75 and a quick ratio of 2.75. The company’s fifty day moving average is $2.94 and its two-hundred day moving average is $2.87.

Performant Financial (NASDAQ:PFMT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 7th. The business services provider reported ($0.05) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Performant Financial had a negative return on equity of 9.30% and a negative net margin of 6.34%. The business had revenue of $27.33 million for the quarter. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Performant Financial will post -0.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Performant Financial

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $581,000 after acquiring an additional 31,075 shares in the last quarter. Mirador Capital Partners LP boosted its holdings in shares of Performant Financial by 2.8% in the second quarter. Mirador Capital Partners LP now owns 2,051,195 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $5,948,000 after acquiring an additional 55,400 shares in the last quarter. Kent Lake Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Performant Financial in the first quarter valued at about $588,000. First Light Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Performant Financial by 8.7% in the first quarter. First Light Asset Management LLC now owns 10,515,127 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $30,914,000 after acquiring an additional 845,017 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Performant Financial by 1.6% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,663,336 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $10,770,000 after acquiring an additional 59,043 shares in the last quarter. 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.