FirstCash (NASDAQ:FCFS) Cut to “Hold” at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of FirstCash (NASDAQ:FCFS) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Saturday,Wall Street Zen reports.

Several other research firms have also commented on FCFS. Weiss Ratings raised FirstCash from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research report on Thursday. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of FirstCash in a research report on Thursday, October 1st. Zacks Research downgraded FirstCash from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 23rd. TD Cowen raised their price objective on FirstCash from $240.00 to $242.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 6th. Finally, Loop Capital upgraded FirstCash from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $255.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $249.75.

FirstCash Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:FCFS opened at $216.20 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $216.80 and a 200 day moving average of $215.21. The company has a quick ratio of 3.51, a current ratio of 4.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01. The company has a market capitalization of $9.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.68 and a beta of 0.55. FirstCash has a 52 week low of $146.77 and a 52 week high of $238.93.

FirstCash (NASDAQ:FCFS) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The company reported $2.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.39 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $1.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.03 billion. FirstCash had a return on equity of 19.65% and a net margin of 9.42%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 29.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.34 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that FirstCash will post 11.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

FirstCash Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 28th. Investors of record on Friday, August 14th were given a dividend of $0.42 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 14th. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. FirstCash’s dividend payout ratio is presently 19.18%.

Insider Activity

In other FirstCash news, COO Thomas Stuart sold 5,348 shares of FirstCash stock in a transaction on Monday, August 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $214.63, for a total value of $1,147,841.24. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 135,498 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,081,935.74. The trade was a 3.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director James Graves sold 3,750 shares of FirstCash stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $221.20, for a total transaction of $829,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 11,929 shares in the company, valued at $2,638,694.80. This represents a 23.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 14,098 shares of company stock valued at $3,051,281 in the last ninety days. 2.86% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of FirstCash

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC purchased a new position in shares of FirstCash during the first quarter worth $26,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in FirstCash during the first quarter valued at $29,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in FirstCash in the second quarter valued at $34,000. Assetmark Inc. boosted its holdings in FirstCash by 113.2% in the first quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 194 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd boosted its holdings in FirstCash by 531.7% in the fourth quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 259 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 218 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.30% of the company’s stock.

About FirstCash

FirstCash Holdings, Inc operates pawn stores and related consumer financial services businesses in the United States and Latin America. Its pawn stores provide collateral-based loans to consumers, while also buying and selling secondhand merchandise such as jewelry, electronics, tools, sporting goods and other personal property.

The company serves customers through pawn locations in the United States and Mexico, as well as selected markets in Central and South America. Its operations are designed to provide short-term, non-recourse credit secured by personal property, along with retail opportunities for value-conscious consumers.