FirstCash (NASDAQ:FCFS) Reaches New 12-Month High – Here’s What Happened

FirstCash Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:FCFS) reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $164.00 and last traded at $163.6680, with a volume of 5613 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $162.18.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on FCFS shares. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their target price on shares of FirstCash from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of FirstCash from $181.00 to $188.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Jefferies Financial Group raised FirstCash to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 18th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of FirstCash from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 4th. Finally, Capital One Financial set a $160.00 price target on shares of FirstCash in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, FirstCash has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $167.00.

FirstCash Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 3.12, a current ratio of 4.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The firm has a market cap of $7.37 billion, a PE ratio of 25.39 and a beta of 0.69. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $152.17 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $139.03.

FirstCash (NASDAQ:FCFS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The company reported $2.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.91 by $0.35. FirstCash had a net margin of 8.61% and a return on equity of 16.63%. The firm had revenue of $935.58 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $845.28 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.67 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that FirstCash Holdings, Inc. will post 7.7 EPS for the current year.

FirstCash Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.42 per share. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 14th. FirstCash’s payout ratio is currently 24.24%.

FirstCash announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Thursday, October 30th that allows the company to repurchase $150.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to repurchase up to 2.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at FirstCash

In other FirstCash news, CFO R Douglas Orr sold 2,852 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.72, for a total value of $455,521.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 39,734 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,346,314.48. The trade was a 6.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Rick L. Wessel sold 30,976 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $139.33, for a total transaction of $4,315,886.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 901,982 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $125,673,152.06. This represents a 3.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 113,000 shares of company stock valued at $15,883,363. 2.93% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On FirstCash

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of FirstCash by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 980,738 shares of the company’s stock valued at $132,552,000 after buying an additional 11,534 shares in the last quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC lifted its holdings in FirstCash by 14.5% in the 1st quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC now owns 888,834 shares of the company’s stock valued at $106,945,000 after purchasing an additional 112,349 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. lifted its holdings in FirstCash by 10.1% in the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 713,906 shares of the company’s stock valued at $96,477,000 after purchasing an additional 65,308 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners lifted its holdings in FirstCash by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 658,961 shares of the company’s stock valued at $88,871,000 after purchasing an additional 8,503 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hood River Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in FirstCash by 42.6% in the 2nd quarter. Hood River Capital Management LLC now owns 611,045 shares of the company’s stock valued at $82,577,000 after purchasing an additional 182,451 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.30% of the company’s stock.

FirstCash Company Profile

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.