Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. Decreases Holdings in First Advantage Co. (NYSE:FA)

Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. reduced its stake in First Advantage Co. (NYSE:FA - Free Report) by 3.8% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,361,115 shares of the company's stock after selling 93,395 shares during the period. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. owned 1.36% of First Advantage worth $33,268,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in FA. Brighton Jones LLC acquired a new stake in shares of First Advantage in the 4th quarter valued at about $257,000. Swiss National Bank boosted its holdings in First Advantage by 50.9% in the fourth quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 151,044 shares of the company's stock worth $2,829,000 after acquiring an additional 50,944 shares in the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC grew its stake in First Advantage by 35.4% in the fourth quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 20,353 shares of the company's stock valued at $381,000 after acquiring an additional 5,317 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas acquired a new stake in First Advantage in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,634,000. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in shares of First Advantage by 337.3% during the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,584,054 shares of the company's stock valued at $67,129,000 after acquiring an additional 2,764,534 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.91% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on FA. Barclays increased their target price on First Advantage from $15.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 29th. Royal Bank Of Canada downgraded shares of First Advantage from an "outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating and set a $20.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Friday, May 9th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of First Advantage in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, First Advantage currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $20.25.

First Advantage Stock Up 0.5%

NYSE:FA traded up $0.10 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $18.36. 813,553 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,090,131. 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 company has a market cap of $3.19 billion, a PE ratio of 612.00 and a beta of 1.24. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $17.44 and its 200-day simple moving average is $16.54. First Advantage Co. has a one year low of $12.32 and a one year high of $20.79.

First Advantage (NYSE:FA - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $0.17 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.13 by $0.04. First Advantage had a net margin of 0.65% and a return on equity of 13.16%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.17 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 109.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that First Advantage Co. will post 0.74 earnings per share for the current year.

First Advantage 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.