Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Purchases 2,940,155 Shares of First Advantage Co. $FA

Key Points

• Price T Rowe Associates Inc. significantly increased its stake in First Advantage Co. by 200.1%, acquiring an additional 2,940,155 shares for a total of 4,409,427 shares worth approximately $62.1 million.
• First Advantage reported a 111.7% year-over-year increase in revenue, with earnings per share of $0.27, surpassing analysts' expectations.
• Institutional investors hold 94.91% of First Advantage's shares, indicating strong confidence in the company's outlook, supported by mixed ratings from analysts on the stock.

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in shares of First Advantage Co. (NYSE:FA - Free Report) by 200.1% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 4,409,427 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 2,940,155 shares during the quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned approximately 2.54% of First Advantage worth $62,130,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of First Advantage by 139.4% during the 1st quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,168,792 shares of the company's stock valued at $30,559,000 after buying an additional 1,262,787 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners lifted its holdings in shares of First Advantage by 9.8% during the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,421,573 shares of the company's stock valued at $33,954,000 after buying an additional 216,282 shares during the last quarter. Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of First Advantage by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel Ltd. now owns 571,464 shares of the company's stock valued at $8,052,000 after buying an additional 7,154 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of First Advantage by 2,967.1% during the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 9,232 shares of the company's stock valued at $130,000 after buying an additional 8,931 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of First Advantage during the 1st quarter valued at about $3,271,000. 94.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on FA. Barclays increased their price objective on First Advantage from $15.00 to $18.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 29th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a "hold" rating on shares of First Advantage in a report on Thursday, August 21st. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada lowered 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. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $20.25.

First Advantage Stock Performance

NYSE:FA traded up $0.03 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $16.36. 584,190 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,047,253. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $16.99 and a two-hundred day moving average of $16.21. First Advantage Co. has a 12 month low of $12.32 and a 12 month high of $20.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 545.33 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a current ratio of 3.85, a quick ratio of 3.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61.

First Advantage (NYSE:FA - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.24 by $0.03. First Advantage had a return on equity of 13.16% and a net margin of 0.65%.During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.21 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 111.7% compared to the same quarter last year. First Advantage has set its FY 2025 guidance at 0.860-1.030 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that First Advantage Co. will post 0.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.