FirstCash (NASDAQ:FCFS) Upgraded to “Buy” at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of FirstCash (NASDAQ:FCFS) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday morning,Wall Street Zen reports.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Loop Capital upgraded FirstCash from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $255.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 10th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on FirstCash from $235.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Zacks Research downgraded FirstCash from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 23rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered FirstCash from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Friday, August 21st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $249.00.

FirstCash Stock Up 0.5%

FCFS stock opened at $217.45 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $9.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.82 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $215.18 and a 200 day moving average price of $213.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 4.89 and a quick ratio of 3.51. FirstCash has a 12 month low of $146.08 and a 12 month high of $238.93.

FirstCash (NASDAQ:FCFS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The company reported $2.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.39 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $1.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.03 billion. FirstCash had a net margin of 9.42% and a return on equity of 19.65%. FirstCash’s revenue for the quarter was up 29.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.34 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that FirstCash will post 11.85 earnings per share for the current year.

FirstCash Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 28th. Investors of record on Friday, August 14th were issued a $0.42 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 14th. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. FirstCash’s dividend payout ratio is currently 19.18%.

Insider Transactions at FirstCash

In other FirstCash news, CFO R. Orr sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $216.00, for a total transaction of $432,000.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 34,734 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,502,544. The trade was a 5.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, COO Thomas Stuart sold 5,348 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $214.63, for a total value of $1,147,841.24. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 135,498 shares in the company, valued at $29,081,935.74. This trade represents a 3.80% 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 sold 14,098 shares of company stock valued at $3,051,281. Company insiders own 2.86% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in FirstCash in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,088,429,000. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new position in FirstCash during the second quarter worth about $248,059,000. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in FirstCash by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,043,699 shares of the company’s stock worth $166,367,000 after acquiring an additional 31,550 shares during the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. lifted its holdings in shares of FirstCash by 2.2% in the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 794,005 shares of the company’s stock valued at $149,273,000 after purchasing an additional 17,177 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of FirstCash by 9.3% in the first quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 474,977 shares of the company’s stock valued at $89,296,000 after purchasing an additional 40,535 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.30% of the company’s stock.

FirstCash Company Profile

FirstCash, Inc (NASDAQ: FCFS) is a specialty consumer-finance and retail company focused primarily on pawn-based lending. Through its pawn stores, the company provides short-term, non-recourse loans secured by personal property, allowing customers to obtain cash without traditional credit underwriting. Customers may repay the loan and reclaim the pledged item or forfeit the collateral under applicable regulations.

FirstCash also generates revenue by selling merchandise obtained through forfeited pawn loans and by purchasing used goods directly from consumers.