FirstCash (NASDAQ:FCFS) Lifted to Buy at TD Cowen

TD Cowen upgraded shares of FirstCash (NASDAQ:FCFS) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report released on Wednesday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. They currently have $145.00 price target on the stock, up from their previous price target of $130.00.

Separately, Stephens lifted their price objective on FirstCash from $131.00 to $141.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd.

FirstCash Stock Performance

FirstCash stock opened at $132.07 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.96 billion, a PE ratio of 27.51 and a beta of 0.62. FirstCash has a one year low of $88.05 and a one year high of $132.31. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $120.21 and its 200 day moving average price is $112.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 2.96 and a current ratio of 3.89.

FirstCash (NASDAQ:FCFS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $2.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.79 by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $852.13 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $859.23 million. FirstCash had a net margin of 6.96% and a return on equity of 14.42%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.65 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that FirstCash will post 6.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

FirstCash Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 14th were issued a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.06%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 13th. FirstCash’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.17%.

Insider Transactions at FirstCash

In related news, Director Douglas Richard Rippel sold 17,395 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.73, for a total transaction of $2,065,308.35. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 5,466,973 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $649,093,704.29. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, Director Douglas Richard Rippel sold 17,395 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.73, for a total transaction of $2,065,308.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 5,466,973 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $649,093,704.29. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO R Douglas Orr sold 3,000 shares of FirstCash stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 94,715 shares in the company, valued at $11,010,618.75. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 329,984 shares of company stock worth $38,850,386. 18.08% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in FCFS. Lazard Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in FirstCash during the second quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp boosted its stake in shares of FirstCash by 86.5% during the 3rd quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 442 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 205 shares in the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. acquired a new position in shares of FirstCash in the 4th quarter worth $51,000. Headinvest LLC acquired a new stake in shares of FirstCash during the third quarter worth $50,000. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of FirstCash during the second quarter valued at $54,000. 80.30% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.