D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. Decreases Stake in First Advantage Co. (NYSE:FA)

D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. cut its holdings in shares of First Advantage Co. (NYSE:FA - Free Report) by 66.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 19,315 shares of the company's stock after selling 38,419 shares during the period. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc.'s holdings in First Advantage were worth $362,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Brighton Jones LLC acquired a new stake in First Advantage in the fourth quarter valued at $257,000. Cortland Associates Inc. MO acquired a new stake in First Advantage in the fourth quarter valued at $24,328,000. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its holdings in First Advantage by 29.5% in the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 432,387 shares of the company's stock valued at $8,099,000 after acquiring an additional 98,500 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers lifted its holdings in First Advantage by 6.9% in the fourth quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 78,696 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,474,000 after acquiring an additional 5,104 shares during the period. Finally, Truist Financial Corp lifted its holdings in First Advantage by 37.4% in the fourth quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 19,095 shares of the company's stock valued at $358,000 after acquiring an additional 5,197 shares during the period. 94.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. William Blair restated an "outperform" rating on shares of First Advantage in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Royal Bank of Canada cut First Advantage from an "outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating and set a $20.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Barclays restated an "equal weight" rating and issued a $15.00 price target (down previously from $20.00) on shares of First Advantage in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on First Advantage from $24.00 to $22.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $65.40.

First Advantage Price Performance

First Advantage stock traded down $0.35 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $17.05. 1,078,408 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 831,317. The company has a market capitalization of $2.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 568.33 and a beta of 1.20. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $15.18 and its 200-day simple moving average is $16.96. First Advantage Co. has a 1 year low of $12.32 and a 1 year high of $20.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 3.85 and a current ratio of 3.85.

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