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

FirstCash Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:FCFS) has been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the six research firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, three have issued a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $198.00.

Several brokerages recently issued reports on FCFS. Zacks Research cut FirstCash from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 23rd. Wall Street Zen lowered FirstCash from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, May 10th. TD Cowen upped their target price on FirstCash from $205.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price target on FirstCash from $242.00 to $252.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered FirstCash from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th.

FirstCash Price Performance

FirstCash stock opened at $218.41 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 4.77 and a quick ratio of 3.42. The stock has a market cap of $9.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.37 and a beta of 0.53. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $221.87 and a two-hundred day moving average of $195.06. FirstCash has a 1 year low of $119.21 and a 1 year high of $235.97.

FirstCash (NASDAQ:FCFS) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The company reported $2.69 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $1.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.07 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 25.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research 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 was paid on Friday, May 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 15th were given a dividend of $0.42 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 15th. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. FirstCash’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 21.05%.

Insider Buying and Selling at FirstCash

In other news, CFO R Douglas Orr sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $227.29, for a total transaction of $454,580.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 35,734 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,121,980.86. This trade represents a 5.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Raul Ramos sold 6,835 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $225.23, for a total transaction of $1,539,447.05. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 20,400 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,594,692. This represents a 25.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 27,500 shares of company stock worth $6,243,104. 2.86% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On FirstCash

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in FirstCash by 133.8% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 562,104 shares of the company’s stock valued at $89,588,000 after acquiring an additional 321,663 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in shares of FirstCash by 36.4% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,169,281 shares of the company’s stock valued at $186,361,000 after acquiring an additional 312,132 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of FirstCash by 67.6% in the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 623,059 shares of the company’s stock valued at $97,503,000 after acquiring an additional 251,305 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of FirstCash by 76.3% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 534,571 shares of the company’s stock worth $84,687,000 after acquiring an additional 231,379 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its position in shares of FirstCash by 280.5% in the 3rd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 305,856 shares of the company’s stock worth $48,454,000 after acquiring an additional 225,466 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.