FirstCash (NASDAQ:FCFS) Upgraded to Buy by Loop Capital

FirstCash (NASDAQ:FCFS - Get Free Report) was upgraded by equities researchers at Loop Capital from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The brokerage currently has a $140.00 target price on the stock, up from their prior target price of $125.00. Loop Capital's price target points to a potential upside of 21.37% from the stock's current price.

A number of other analysts also recently commented on the stock. Stephens boosted their target price on shares of FirstCash from $131.00 to $141.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. TD Cowen raised shares of FirstCash from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $130.00 to $145.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th.

FirstCash Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ FCFS traded down $0.36 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $115.35. The company's stock had a trading volume of 380,524 shares, compared to its average volume of 221,460. The firm has a market cap of $5.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.56 and a beta of 0.62. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $122.13 and its 200-day moving average price is $114.85. FirstCash has a 1-year low of $88.05 and a 1-year high of $133.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 3.03 and a current ratio of 3.99.

FirstCash (NASDAQ:FCFS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $1.55 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $0.05. FirstCash had a net margin of 7.23% and a return on equity of 14.73%. The firm had revenue of $836.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $846.08 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.25 EPS. FirstCash's quarterly revenue was up 9.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that FirstCash will post 6.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at FirstCash

In related news, CFO R Douglas Orr sold 3,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $116.25, for a total transaction of $348,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 94,715 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,010,618.75. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other FirstCash news, Director Douglas Richard Rippel sold 31,930 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.68, for a total transaction of $3,821,382.40. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 5,767,238 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $690,223,043.84. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO R Douglas Orr sold 3,000 shares of FirstCash stock in a transaction on Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.25, for a total value of $348,750.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 94,715 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $11,010,618.75. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 329,984 shares of company stock worth $38,850,386. 18.08% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC bought a new position in FirstCash during the first quarter worth $26,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp increased its stake in FirstCash by 86.5% in the third quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 442 shares of the company's stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 205 shares in the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. bought a new stake in shares of FirstCash during the fourth quarter worth about $51,000. Headinvest LLC bought a new stake in shares of FirstCash during the third quarter worth about $50,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new stake in shares of FirstCash during the fourth quarter worth about $69,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.