FirstCash Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:FCFS) Given Consensus Recommendation of "Buy" by Brokerages

Key Points

• FirstCash Holdings, Inc. has received a consensus recommendation of "Buy" from analysts, with an average target price of $143.00 among those covering the stock.
• Insider sales have been notable, with CEO Rick L. Wessel selling over 69,000 shares and CFO R. Douglas Orr also reducing their holdings, indicating a decrease in insider ownership.
• The company recently announced an increase in its quarterly dividend to $0.42, representing a 1.1% dividend yield and a payout ratio of 25.81%.

Shares of FirstCash Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:FCFS - Get Free Report) have been given an average recommendation of "Buy" by the five brokerages that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $143.00.

FCFS has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Wall Street Zen cut shares of FirstCash from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday. Cowen restated a "buy" rating on shares of FirstCash in a research note on Monday, August 18th. Loop Capital cut shares of FirstCash from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $145.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Friday, September 5th. Capital One Financial set a $160.00 price target on shares of FirstCash in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of FirstCash to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, August 18th.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Rick L. Wessel sold 69,024 shares of FirstCash stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.49, for a total value of $9,559,133.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 932,958 shares in the company, valued at approximately $129,205,353.42. The trade was a 6.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO R Douglas Orr sold 3,000 shares of FirstCash stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.41, for a total transaction of $445,230.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 97,567 shares of the company's stock, valued at $14,479,918.47. This trade represents a 2.98% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 111,500 shares of company stock worth $15,493,610. Insiders own 14.77% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of FCFS. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in FirstCash in the 1st quarter worth approximately $55,340,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in FirstCash by 26,021.8% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 259,651 shares of the company's stock worth $31,241,000 after acquiring an additional 258,657 shares during the period. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt grew its holdings in FirstCash by 1,350.3% during the 2nd quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 250,900 shares of the company's stock worth $33,907,000 after acquiring an additional 233,600 shares during the period. Hood River Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in FirstCash by 42.6% during the 2nd quarter. Hood River Capital Management LLC now owns 611,045 shares of the company's stock worth $82,577,000 after acquiring an additional 182,451 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in FirstCash by 85.8% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 371,754 shares of the company's stock worth $50,239,000 after acquiring an additional 171,708 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.30% of the company's stock.

FirstCash Stock Up 0.9%

FCFS stock opened at $154.63 on Tuesday. FirstCash has a twelve month low of $100.24 and a twelve month high of $158.93. The company has a market cap of $6.86 billion, a PE ratio of 23.75 and a beta of 0.70. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $141.45 and its 200 day simple moving average is $132.36. The company has a quick ratio of 3.12, a current ratio of 4.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79.

FirstCash (NASDAQ:FCFS - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The company reported $1.79 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.66 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $830.62 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $820.42 million. FirstCash had a return on equity of 16.63% and a net margin of 8.61%.The firm's revenue for the quarter was up .0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.37 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that FirstCash will post 7.7 earnings per share for the current year.

FirstCash Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th were paid a $0.42 dividend. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. This is an increase from FirstCash's previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 15th. FirstCash's dividend payout ratio is presently 25.81%.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.