FirstCash (NASDAQ:FCFS) Shares Gap Up – Still a Buy?

FirstCash Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:FCFS) shares gapped up prior to trading on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $107.94, but opened at $110.51. FirstCash shares last traded at $110.51, with a volume of 425 shares trading hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. TD Cowen lowered their price target on FirstCash from $134.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 28th. Stephens started coverage on FirstCash in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $137.00 price objective for the company.

FirstCash Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $4.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.99 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $110.60 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $112.12. The company has a quick ratio of 3.23, a current ratio of 4.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87.

FirstCash (NASDAQ:FCFS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $1.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $837.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $843.94 million. FirstCash had a return on equity of 14.97% and a net margin of 7.29%. FirstCash’s revenue was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.56 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that FirstCash Holdings, Inc. will post 6.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

FirstCash Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be given a $0.38 dividend. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. FirstCash’s dividend payout ratio is currently 28.15%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other FirstCash news, CFO R Douglas Orr sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.68, for a total value of $211,360.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 88,715 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,375,401.20. The trade was a 2.20 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Douglas Richard Rippel sold 600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.07, for a total value of $72,042.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 4,735,243 shares of the company’s stock, 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. Insiders have sold 13,290 shares of company stock valued at $1,565,853 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 14.77% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of FirstCash

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC increased its holdings in FirstCash by 18.3% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,712,779 shares of the company’s stock valued at $770,627,000 after purchasing an additional 1,037,601 shares in the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of FirstCash during the third quarter worth about $50,192,000. American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in FirstCash by 66.0% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 446,882 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,869,000 after acquiring an additional 177,698 shares during the period. Erste Asset Management GmbH acquired a new stake in FirstCash during the third quarter worth about $18,368,000. Finally, Natixis Advisors LLC raised its stake in FirstCash by 174.3% during the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 159,140 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,269,000 after acquiring an additional 101,130 shares during the period. 80.30% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.