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

FirstCash Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:FCFS) has been assigned an average rating of “Buy” from the six brokerages that are covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $198.00.

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of FirstCash from $205.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Zacks Research raised shares of FirstCash from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of FirstCash from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, May 10th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of FirstCash from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group upped their target price on FirstCash from $242.00 to $252.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Paula K. Garrett sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $217.40, for a total value of $326,100.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 6,564 shares in the company, valued at $1,427,013.60. This represents a 18.60% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, COO Thomas Brent Stuart sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.49, for a total value of $2,284,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 140,846 shares in the company, valued at $32,181,902.54. This represents a 6.63% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 17,500 shares of company stock worth $3,972,130 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 2.86% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On FirstCash

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in FirstCash by 2.1% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,096,956 shares of the company’s stock worth $649,040,000 after buying an additional 83,113 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in FirstCash by 36.4% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,169,281 shares of the company’s stock worth $186,361,000 after buying an additional 312,132 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in FirstCash by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,043,699 shares of the company’s stock worth $166,367,000 after buying an additional 31,550 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in FirstCash by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,009,170 shares of the company’s stock worth $160,850,000 after buying an additional 5,626 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stephens Investment Management Group LLC increased its holdings in FirstCash by 1.0% in the third quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC now owns 857,510 shares of the company’s stock worth $135,847,000 after buying an additional 8,610 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.30% of the company’s stock.

FirstCash Price Performance

FCFS stock opened at $225.86 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 4.77, a quick ratio of 3.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98. FirstCash has a one year low of $119.21 and a one year high of $235.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.90 billion, a PE ratio of 28.30 and a beta of 0.52. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $205.38 and a two-hundred day moving average of $181.10.

FirstCash (NASDAQ:FCFS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 23rd. The company reported $2.69 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.30 by $0.39. FirstCash had a net margin of 9.15% and a return on equity of 18.68%. The company had revenue of $1.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.07 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 25.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that FirstCash will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current year.

FirstCash Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 15th will be issued a $0.42 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 15th. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. FirstCash’s dividend payout ratio is currently 21.05%.

About FirstCash

FirstCash, Inc (NASDAQ: FCFS) is a leading integrated operator of pawn stores and provider of short-term consumer loan services in the United States and Mexico. Through its retail pawn outlets, FirstCash offers collateral-based loans secured by personal property, enabling customers to access liquidity without a credit history or traditional bank account. The company also purchases, trades and sells a broad range of secondhand merchandise, including electronics, jewelry and power tools, through its network of conveniently located stores.

In addition to its pawn-broking activities, FirstCash provides unsecured consumer loans designed to meet urgent cash needs.