FirstCash Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:FCFS) Receives Consensus Rating of "Moderate Buy" from Brokerages

Key Points

• Analysts maintain a “Moderate Buy” consensus on FirstCash, with four buy ratings and one hold rating. The average 12-month price target is $249, above the reported $221.79 share price.
• FirstCash exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $2.50 adjusted EPS versus a $2.39 estimate and $1.07 billion in revenue, up 29.4% year over year.
• The company paid a quarterly dividend of $0.42 per share, equivalent to a $1.68 annualized payout and a 0.8% yield, while institutional investors own approximately 80.3% of outstanding shares.

Shares of FirstCash Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:FCFS - Get Free Report) have received a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the five analysts that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $249.00.

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. TD Cowen raised their price objective on FirstCash from $235.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Loop Capital raised FirstCash from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $255.00 price target for the company in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Zacks Research cut FirstCash from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Weiss Ratings downgraded FirstCash from a "buy (b+)" rating to a "buy (b)" rating in a research note on Friday, August 21st. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut FirstCash from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, September 5th.

FirstCash Price Performance

FCFS stock opened at $221.79 on Tuesday. FirstCash has a one year low of $145.42 and a one year high of $238.93. The company's fifty day moving average price is $214.94 and its 200-day moving average price is $212.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 3.51 and a current ratio of 4.89. The company has a market capitalization of $9.62 billion, a PE ratio of 25.32 and a beta of 0.53.

FirstCash (NASDAQ:FCFS - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The company reported $2.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.39 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $1.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.03 billion. FirstCash had a net margin of 9.42% and a return on equity of 19.65%. FirstCash's quarterly revenue was up 29.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.34 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that FirstCash will post 11.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

FirstCash Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at FirstCash

In other FirstCash news, CFO R. Orr sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $216.00, for a total transaction of $432,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 34,734 shares in the company, valued at $7,502,544. This trade represents a 5.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Howard Hambleton sold 2,000 shares of FirstCash stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $212.98, for a total transaction of $425,960.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 30,406 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,475,869.88. The trade was a 6.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 14,098 shares of company stock worth $3,051,281 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 2.86% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. California State Teachers Retirement System increased its stake in FirstCash by 21,984.3% in the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 9,970,621 shares of the company's stock worth $2,156,845,000 after purchasing an additional 9,925,473 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in shares of FirstCash during the second quarter worth $1,088,429,000. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new stake in shares of FirstCash during the second quarter valued at $248,059,000. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of FirstCash by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,043,699 shares of the company's stock valued at $166,367,000 after purchasing an additional 31,550 shares during the period. Finally, Sei Investments Co. grew 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 worth $149,273,000 after purchasing an additional 17,177 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.