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

FirstCash Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:FCFS) has earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the five analysts that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $249.00.

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on FCFS shares. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of FirstCash from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Zacks Research cut shares of FirstCash from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of FirstCash from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, May 10th. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their target price on shares of FirstCash from $242.00 to $252.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Loop Capital raised shares of FirstCash from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $255.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 10th.

FirstCash Price Performance

Shares of FCFS stock opened at $205.91 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $214.07 and a 200 day simple moving average of $206.78. The company has a market cap of $8.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.51 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a quick ratio of 3.51, a current ratio of 4.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01. FirstCash has a twelve month low of $137.31 and a twelve month high of $235.97.

FirstCash (NASDAQ:FCFS) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The company reported $2.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.39 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $1.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.03 billion. FirstCash had a return on equity of 19.65% and a net margin of 9.42%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 29.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.34 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that FirstCash will post 11.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

FirstCash Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 28th. Investors of record on Friday, August 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.42 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 14th. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. FirstCash’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 19.18%.

Insider Transactions at FirstCash

In related news, SVP Raul Ramos sold 6,835 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $225.23, for a total transaction of $1,539,447.05. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 20,400 shares in the company, valued at $4,594,692. The trade was a 25.10% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Howard F. Hambleton sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $212.98, for a total value of $425,960.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 30,406 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,475,869.88. The trade was a 6.17% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 20,348 shares of company stock worth $4,492,755. 2.86% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC bought a new position in FirstCash in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in FirstCash during the 1st quarter worth approximately $29,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in FirstCash in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Assetmark Inc. increased its position in FirstCash by 113.2% in the 1st quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 194 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares during the period. Finally, CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC increased its position in FirstCash by 490.9% in the 4th quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 195 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 162 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.30% of the company’s stock.

FirstCash Company Profile

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.