FirstCash (NASDAQ:FCFS) Rating Increased to Buy at Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• FirstCash has received an upgrade from a "hold" to a "buy" rating by Wall Street Zen, reflecting growing investor confidence in the company.
• The stock has a current consensus rating of "Buy" with an average price target of $154.40, after several analysts issued positive ratings and one downgraded it.
• In its latest quarterly earnings, FirstCash reported $1.79 EPS, beating analysts' expectations and demonstrating year-over-year revenue growth.

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

A number of other analysts have also weighed in on the company. Canaccord Genuity Group initiated coverage on FirstCash in a research note on Tuesday. They issued a "buy" rating and a $200.00 target price on the stock. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "buy (b)" rating on shares of FirstCash in a research note on Saturday, September 27th. Loop Capital downgraded shares of FirstCash from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $145.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Friday, September 5th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of FirstCash to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, August 18th. Finally, Cowen reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of FirstCash in a research report on Monday, August 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $154.40.

FirstCash Trading Up 1.8%

Shares of FCFS opened at $151.79 on Friday. FirstCash has a twelve month low of $100.24 and a twelve month high of $158.93. The company has a market cap of $6.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.32 and a beta of 0.69. The company has a current ratio of 4.21, a quick ratio of 3.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $143.44 and its 200-day simple moving average is $133.14.

FirstCash (NASDAQ:FCFS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. FirstCash had a net margin of 8.61% and a return on equity of 16.63%. The company had revenue of $830.62 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $820.42 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.37 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up .0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that FirstCash will post 7.7 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at FirstCash

In other FirstCash news, CFO R Douglas Orr sold 2,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.40, for a total value of $366,000.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 41,734 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,109,857.60. This represents a 5.65% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Rick L. Wessel sold 30,976 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $139.33, for a total value of $4,315,886.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 901,982 shares in the company, valued at approximately $125,673,152.06. This represents a 3.32% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 111,500 shares of company stock worth $15,493,610 over the last quarter. 2.93% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in FirstCash by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 16,937 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,289,000 after buying an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. CX Institutional lifted its holdings in FirstCash by 24.7% in the 2nd quarter. CX Institutional now owns 434 shares of the company's stock valued at $59,000 after purchasing an additional 86 shares in the last quarter. Xponance Inc. lifted its holdings in FirstCash by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 5,552 shares of the company's stock valued at $668,000 after purchasing an additional 87 shares in the last quarter. Sendero Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of FirstCash by 1.2% in the second quarter. Sendero Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,580 shares of the company's stock worth $1,024,000 after buying an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MBM Wealth Consultants LLC lifted its stake in shares of FirstCash by 1.6% in the first quarter. MBM Wealth Consultants LLC now owns 5,757 shares of the company's stock worth $693,000 after buying an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.

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