FirstCash (NASDAQ:FCFS) Upgraded to Buy by Loop Capital

Loop Capital upgraded shares of FirstCash (NASDAQ:FCFS) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report released on Monday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has $140.00 price objective on the stock, up from their prior price objective of $125.00.

A number of other research firms have also weighed in on FCFS. Stephens increased their target price on FirstCash from $131.00 to $141.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. TD Cowen upgraded FirstCash from a hold rating to a buy rating and increased their target price for the stock from $130.00 to $145.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th.

FirstCash Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of FCFS opened at $114.86 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.39 and a beta of 0.63. FirstCash has a 1 year low of $88.05 and a 1 year high of $133.64. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $121.93 and its 200-day simple moving average is $115.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 3.99 and a quick ratio of 3.03.

FirstCash (NASDAQ:FCFS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $1.55 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $0.05. FirstCash had a return on equity of 14.73% and a net margin of 7.23%. The company had revenue of $836.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $846.08 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.25 EPS. FirstCash’s quarterly revenue was up 9.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that FirstCash will post 6.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

FirstCash Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 31st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 15th will be given a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 14th. FirstCash’s payout ratio is 27.29%.

Insider Transactions at FirstCash

In other news, Director Douglas Richard Rippel sold 17,395 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.73, for a total transaction of $2,065,308.35. Following the transaction, the director now owns 5,466,973 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $649,093,704.29. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, Director Douglas Richard Rippel sold 17,395 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.73, for a total transaction of $2,065,308.35. Following the sale, the director now owns 5,466,973 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $649,093,704.29. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO R Douglas Orr sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $116.25, for a total value of $348,750.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 94,715 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,010,618.75. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 329,984 shares of company stock valued at $38,850,386. 18.08% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On FirstCash

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FCFS. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of FirstCash by 5.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,062,478 shares of the company’s stock worth $440,332,000 after purchasing an additional 219,983 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners raised its position in FirstCash by 43.6% during the third quarter. Boston Partners now owns 511,026 shares of the company’s stock valued at $51,858,000 after acquiring an additional 155,085 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. raised its position in FirstCash by 34.8% during the fourth quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 575,254 shares of the company’s stock valued at $62,352,000 after acquiring an additional 148,502 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in FirstCash by 2.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,556,669 shares of the company’s stock valued at $658,158,000 after acquiring an additional 145,821 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its position in FirstCash by 182.4% during the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 199,902 shares of the company’s stock valued at $20,066,000 after acquiring an additional 129,111 shares in the last quarter. 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.