FirstCash (NASDAQ:FCFS) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of FirstCash (NASDAQ:FCFS) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a report issued on Saturday morning.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on FCFS. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on FirstCash from $181.00 to $188.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. Zacks Research upgraded shares of FirstCash from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 10th. Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of FirstCash in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Capital One Financial set a $160.00 price objective on shares of FirstCash in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price objective on shares of FirstCash from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, FirstCash presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $167.00.

FirstCash Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of NASDAQ:FCFS opened at $161.38 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $153.01 and its 200 day moving average is $139.93. The stock has a market cap of $7.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.79 and a beta of 0.66. FirstCash has a 52-week low of $100.24 and a 52-week high of $166.08. 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 (NASDAQ:FCFS) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The company reported $2.26 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.91 by $0.35. FirstCash had a return on equity of 16.63% and a net margin of 8.61%.The business had revenue of $935.58 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $845.28 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.67 EPS. FirstCash’s revenue was up 11.7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that FirstCash will post 7.7 EPS for the current year.

FirstCash declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, October 30th that permits the company to repurchase $150.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to purchase up to 2.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often 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 will be paid on Wednesday, November 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.42 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 14th. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. FirstCash’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.24%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other FirstCash news, CFO R Douglas Orr sold 4,000 shares of FirstCash stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.64, for a total transaction of $638,560.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 93,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,937,035.88. The trade was a 4.10% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Rick L. Wessel sold 69,024 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.49, for a total value of $9,559,133.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 932,958 shares in the company, valued at $129,205,353.42. This represents a 6.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 113,000 shares of company stock valued at $15,883,363 in the last 90 days. 2.93% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On FirstCash

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of FCFS. Root Financial Partners LLC acquired a new stake in FirstCash during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Rothschild Investment LLC raised its holdings in shares of FirstCash by 127.8% during the third quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC now owns 180 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd purchased a new position in shares of FirstCash during the second quarter worth $25,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its position in FirstCash by 70.5% during the third quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 220 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 91 shares during the period. Finally, IFP Advisors Inc boosted its holdings in FirstCash by 181.6% in the second quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 290 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 187 shares during the last quarter. 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.