FirstCash (NASDAQ:FCFS) Cut to "Hold" at Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen downgraded FirstCash to “Hold” from “Buy,” though the broader analyst consensus remains “Moderate Buy,” with five Buy ratings and one Hold rating and an average price target of $249.75.
• FirstCash exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $2.50 in EPS versus the $2.39 estimate and $1.07 billion in revenue, up 29.4% year over year.
• Shares opened at $213.70, while insiders sold approximately $3.05 million worth of stock over the past 90 days; institutional investors own 80.30% of the company.

FirstCash (NASDAQ:FCFS - Get Free Report) was downgraded by equities research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a note issued to investors on Saturday, Wall Street Zen reports.

A number of other research analysts also recently commented on FCFS. Zacks Research downgraded FirstCash from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 23rd. Loop Capital upgraded FirstCash from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $255.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 10th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of FirstCash from $240.00 to $242.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of FirstCash from a "buy (b)" rating to a "buy (b+)" rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Stephens reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of FirstCash in a report on Thursday, October 1st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $249.75.

FirstCash Stock Performance

Shares of FCFS stock opened at $213.70 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $9.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.39 and a beta of 0.55. The business has a 50 day moving average of $216.66 and a two-hundred day moving average of $214.92. FirstCash has a 52 week low of $146.77 and a 52 week high of $238.93. The company has a quick ratio of 3.51, a current ratio of 4.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01.

FirstCash (NASDAQ:FCFS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The company reported $2.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.39 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $1.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.03 billion. FirstCash had a return on equity of 19.65% and a net margin of 9.42%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 29.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.34 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that FirstCash will post 11.59 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Thomas Stuart sold 5,348 shares of FirstCash stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $214.63, for a total transaction of $1,147,841.24. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 135,498 shares in the company, valued at $29,081,935.74. The trade was a 3.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO R. Orr sold 2,000 shares of FirstCash stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $216.00, for a total transaction of $432,000.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 34,734 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,502,544. This represents a 5.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 14,098 shares of company stock worth $3,051,281. 2.86% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On FirstCash

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in FirstCash during the second quarter valued at approximately $1,088,429,000. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new position in FirstCash in the second quarter worth approximately $248,059,000. Sei Investments Co. grew its position in FirstCash by 2.2% in the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 794,005 shares of the company's stock worth $149,273,000 after buying an additional 17,177 shares during the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. increased 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 buying an additional 40,535 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in shares of FirstCash in the second quarter valued at $69,779,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.30% of the company's stock.

FirstCash Company Profile

FirstCash Holdings, Inc operates pawn stores and related consumer financial services businesses in the United States and Latin America. Its pawn stores provide collateral-based loans to consumers, while also buying and selling secondhand merchandise such as jewelry, electronics, tools, sporting goods and other personal property.

The company serves customers through pawn locations in the United States and Mexico, as well as selected markets in Central and South America. Its operations are designed to provide short-term, non-recourse credit secured by personal property, along with retail opportunities for value-conscious consumers.

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