FirstCash (NASDAQ:FCFS) Stock Rating Upgraded by Wall Street Zen

FirstCash (NASDAQ:FCFS) was upgraded by analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report issued on Saturday.

Several other brokerages have also issued reports on FCFS. Canaccord Genuity Group began coverage on shares of FirstCash in a research report on Tuesday, September 30th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $200.00 target price on the stock. Loop Capital cut 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. Capital One Financial set a $160.00 price target on FirstCash in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of FirstCash in a research note on Saturday, September 27th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of FirstCash to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, FirstCash currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $154.40.

FirstCash Price Performance

NASDAQ:FCFS opened at $151.79 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 3.12, a current ratio of 4.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. FirstCash has a 52 week low of $100.24 and a 52 week high of $158.93. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $143.44 and its 200-day moving average price is $133.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.73 billion, a PE ratio of 23.32 and a beta of 0.69.

FirstCash (NASDAQ:FCFS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The company reported $1.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.66 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $830.62 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $820.42 million. FirstCash had a return on equity of 16.63% and a net margin of 8.61%.FirstCash’s revenue for the quarter was up .0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.37 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that FirstCash will post 7.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO R Douglas Orr sold 2,500 shares of FirstCash stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.40, for a total transaction of $366,000.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 41,734 shares in the company, valued at $6,109,857.60. This trade represents a 5.65% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Rick L. Wessel sold 30,976 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.33, for a total transaction of $4,315,886.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 901,982 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $125,673,152.06. This trade represents a 3.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 111,500 shares of company stock valued at $15,493,610. 14.77% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of FirstCash

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in FirstCash during the 1st quarter worth approximately $55,340,000. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt increased its position in FirstCash by 1,350.3% in the 2nd quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 250,900 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,907,000 after acquiring an additional 233,600 shares during the period. Hood River Capital Management LLC raised its stake in FirstCash by 42.6% during the 2nd quarter. Hood River Capital Management LLC now owns 611,045 shares of the company’s stock valued at $82,577,000 after acquiring an additional 182,451 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in FirstCash by 85.8% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 371,754 shares of the company’s stock valued at $50,239,000 after acquiring an additional 171,708 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stephens Investment Management Group LLC lifted its position in FirstCash by 14.5% during the 1st quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC now owns 888,834 shares of the company’s stock worth $106,945,000 after acquiring an additional 112,349 shares during the period. 80.30% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.