FirstCash (NASDAQ:FCFS) Coverage Initiated at Stephens

Stephens assumed coverage on shares of FirstCash (NASDAQ:FCFS) in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm issued an overweight rating and a $137.00 target price on the stock.

Separately, TD Cowen cut their target price on shares of FirstCash from $134.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 28th.

FirstCash Stock Down 0.9 %

NASDAQ FCFS opened at $105.77 on Wednesday. FirstCash has a 12 month low of $101.62 and a 12 month high of $133.64. The company has a current ratio of 4.31, a quick ratio of 3.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. The stock has a market cap of $4.73 billion, a PE ratio of 19.59 and a beta of 0.64. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $111.90 and its 200 day moving average is $112.66.

FirstCash (NASDAQ:FCFS) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $1.67 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $837.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $843.94 million. FirstCash had a net margin of 7.29% and a return on equity of 14.97%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.56 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that FirstCash will post 6.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

FirstCash Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.38 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.44%. FirstCash’s dividend payout ratio is 28.15%.

Insider Activity at FirstCash

In related news, CFO R Douglas Orr sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.68, for a total value of $211,360.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 88,715 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,375,401.20. This represents a 2.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Douglas Richard Rippel sold 7,316 shares of FirstCash stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.98, for a total transaction of $877,773.68. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,735,843 shares in the company, valued at approximately $568,206,443.14. The trade was a 0.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 16,154 shares of company stock worth $1,909,562 in the last quarter. 14.77% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On FirstCash

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FCFS. SG Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in FirstCash during the 1st quarter worth $3,348,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its stake in shares of FirstCash by 10.2% during the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 80,262 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,230,000 after acquiring an additional 7,399 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of FirstCash by 21.7% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 192,155 shares of the company’s stock valued at $24,508,000 after acquiring an additional 34,217 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of FirstCash by 753.4% in the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 161,291 shares of the company’s stock valued at $20,560,000 after purchasing an additional 142,391 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners boosted its stake in FirstCash by 17.8% in the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 621,534 shares of the company’s stock worth $78,347,000 after purchasing an additional 94,010 shares in the last quarter. 80.30% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About FirstCash

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.