FirstCash (NASDAQ:FCFS) Shares Gap Up – Should You Buy?

FirstCash Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:FCFS) shares gapped up before the market opened 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 changing hands.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on FCFS shares. Stephens started coverage on shares of FirstCash in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $137.00 price target for the company. TD Cowen reduced their price target on shares of FirstCash from $134.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 28th.

FirstCash Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $4.86 billion, a PE ratio of 20.12 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 4.31 and a quick ratio of 3.23. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $110.17 and its 200 day simple moving average is $112.01.

FirstCash (NASDAQ:FCFS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $1.67 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.05. The business 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 revenue was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.56 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that FirstCash Holdings, Inc. will post 6.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

FirstCash Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th were issued a dividend of $0.38 per share. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.40%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 15th. FirstCash’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.15%.

Insider Buying and Selling at FirstCash

In related news, Director Douglas Richard Rippel sold 7,316 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.98, for a total value of $877,773.68. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 4,735,843 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $568,206,443.14. This trade represents a 0.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO R Douglas Orr sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.68, for a total transaction of $211,360.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 88,715 shares in the company, valued at $9,375,401.20. This represents a 2.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 13,290 shares of company stock valued at $1,565,853 over the last three months. 14.77% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On FirstCash

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its position in FirstCash by 220.3% during the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 977 shares of the company’s stock valued at $124,000 after acquiring an additional 672 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in FirstCash by 6.8% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 21,561 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,750,000 after acquiring an additional 1,367 shares during the last quarter. Atria Investments Inc bought a new position in FirstCash during the first quarter valued at approximately $1,189,000. Burney Co. grew its position in FirstCash by 6.9% during the first quarter. Burney Co. now owns 4,846 shares of the company’s stock valued at $618,000 after acquiring an additional 312 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners grew its position in FirstCash by 17.8% during the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 621,534 shares of the company’s stock valued at $78,347,000 after acquiring an additional 94,010 shares during the last quarter. 80.30% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.