Performant Financial (NASDAQ:PFMT) Coverage Initiated by Analysts at StockNews.com

StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Performant Financial (NASDAQ:PFMT) in a report issued on Friday. The firm issued a sell rating on the business services provider’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on PFMT. B. Riley cut their target price on Performant Financial from $8.00 to $7.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Craig Hallum raised Performant Financial to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st.

Performant Financial Price Performance

The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $3.49 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $3.37. The stock has a market capitalization of $278.72 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -35.60 and a beta of 0.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 2.67 and a quick ratio of 2.67. Performant Financial has a 1-year low of $2.37 and a 1-year high of $4.35.

Performant Financial (NASDAQ:PFMT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The business services provider reported ($0.03) earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of ($0.03). Performant Financial had a negative return on equity of 10.19% and a negative net margin of 6.74%. The business had revenue of $31.52 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $31.70 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.01) EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Performant Financial will post -0.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Performant Financial

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in PFMT. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in shares of Performant Financial by 18.4% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 200,208 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $581,000 after acquiring an additional 31,075 shares in the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers boosted its holdings in Performant Financial by 32.1% in the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 84,953 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $246,000 after purchasing an additional 20,637 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Performant Financial by 12.9% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 526,277 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,526,000 after purchasing an additional 60,300 shares during the last quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Performant Financial by 1.7% during the second quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 2,256,841 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $6,545,000 after purchasing an additional 37,500 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Performant Financial during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $91,000. 77.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.