FirstCash Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:FCFS) Short Interest Up 28.8% in November

FirstCash Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:FCFS) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in the month of November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 925,600 shares, an increase of 28.8% from the October 31st total of 718,600 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 246,100 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.8 days. Approximately 2.4% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on FCFS. TD Cowen decreased their target price on FirstCash from $134.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Stephens started coverage on shares of FirstCash in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $137.00 price objective on the stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO R Douglas Orr sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 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 at this hyperlink. Also, Director Douglas Richard Rippel sold 600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $120.07, for a total value of $72,042.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,735,243 shares in the company, valued at $568,560,627.01. This trade represents a 0.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 5,974 shares of company stock valued at $688,080. Company insiders own 14.77% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On FirstCash

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of FirstCash in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $54,000. CWM LLC raised its holdings in FirstCash by 157.5% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 569 shares of the company’s stock worth $65,000 after acquiring an additional 348 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of FirstCash by 28.9% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 900 shares of the company’s stock valued at $103,000 after buying an additional 202 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of FirstCash by 220.3% during the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 977 shares of the company’s stock worth $124,000 after purchasing an additional 672 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP raised its stake in FirstCash by 511.1% in the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,100 shares of the company’s stock valued at $115,000 after buying an additional 920 shares during the period. 80.30% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

FirstCash Stock Down 1.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ:FCFS traded down $1.75 on Monday, reaching $107.11. The company had a trading volume of 185,552 shares, compared to its average volume of 248,098. FirstCash has a twelve month low of $101.62 and a twelve month high of $133.64. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $109.79 and a 200 day moving average price of $111.86. The company has a quick ratio of 3.23, a current ratio of 4.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.87 and a beta of 0.64.

FirstCash (NASDAQ:FCFS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $1.67 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.05. FirstCash had a return on equity of 14.97% and a net margin of 7.29%. The company had revenue of $837.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $843.94 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.56 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that FirstCash will post 6.61 EPS for the current year.

FirstCash Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th were given a dividend of $0.38 per share. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.42%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 15th. FirstCash’s dividend payout ratio is 28.15%.

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.