FirstCash Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:FCFS) Receives Average Rating of “Buy” from Brokerages

FirstCash Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:FCFS) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Buy” from the eight brokerages that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12 month price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $167.00.

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. TD Cowen raised their target price on FirstCash from $181.00 to $188.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Wall Street Zen upgraded FirstCash from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 8th. Loop Capital downgraded FirstCash from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $145.00 target price for the company. in a report on Friday, September 5th. Canaccord Genuity Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $205.00 price target on shares of FirstCash in a research note on Monday, December 8th. Finally, Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of FirstCash in a research report on Friday, October 31st.

Insider Transactions at FirstCash

In other FirstCash news, COO Thomas Brent Stuart sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.97, for a total transaction of $1,599,700.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 127,724 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,432,008.28. This represents a 7.26% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Rick L. Wessel sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $156.39, for a total value of $3,127,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 866,982 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $135,587,314.98. The trade was a 2.25% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 44,500 shares of company stock valued at $7,023,548. Insiders own 2.93% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of FirstCash

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd bought a new stake in shares of FirstCash in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Root Financial Partners LLC purchased a new position in FirstCash during the third quarter valued at $25,000. Rothschild Investment LLC boosted its holdings in FirstCash by 127.8% in the third quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC now owns 180 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. Community Bank N.A. purchased a new stake in shares of FirstCash in the third quarter worth $32,000. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of FirstCash by 70.5% in the third quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 220 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 91 shares during the last quarter. 80.30% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

FirstCash Stock Up 1.0%

Shares of FirstCash stock opened at $163.91 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 3.72 and a current ratio of 4.99. FirstCash has a 52-week low of $100.24 and a 52-week high of $166.08. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $157.01 and its 200-day moving average price is $144.42. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.65 and a beta of 0.53.

FirstCash (NASDAQ:FCFS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The company reported $2.26 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.91 by $0.35. FirstCash had a net margin of 8.88% and a return on equity of 17.44%. The business had revenue of $904.27 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $845.28 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.67 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that FirstCash will post 7.7 EPS for the current year.

FirstCash declared that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Thursday, October 30th that authorizes the company to repurchase $150.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to repurchase up to 2.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

FirstCash Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 26th. Investors of record on Friday, November 14th were paid a $0.42 dividend. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 14th. FirstCash’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.24%.

About FirstCash

FirstCash Holdings, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates retail pawn stores in the United States, Mexico, and rest of Latin America. The company operates in three segments: U.S. Pawn, Latin America Pawn, and Retail POS Payment Solutions segments. Its pawn stores lend money on the collateral of pledged personal property, including jewelry, electronics, tools, appliances, sporting goods, and musical instruments; and retails merchandise acquired through collateral forfeitures on forfeited pawn loans and over-the-counter purchases of merchandise directly from customers.