FirstCash (NASDAQ:FCFS) Earns “Buy” Rating from Canaccord Genuity Group

FirstCash (NASDAQ:FCFS)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by analysts at Canaccord Genuity Group in a report issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $205.00 price objective on the stock. Canaccord Genuity Group’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 31.24% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other research firms have also issued reports on FCFS. Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of FirstCash in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Loop Capital lowered FirstCash from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $145.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Friday, September 5th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of FirstCash from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, November 8th. TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of FirstCash from $181.00 to $188.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (a-)” rating on shares of FirstCash in a report on Monday, December 1st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $167.00.

FirstCash Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:FCFS opened at $156.20 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $6.89 billion, a PE ratio of 22.54 and a beta of 0.53. FirstCash has a fifty-two week low of $100.24 and a fifty-two week high of $166.08. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $156.37 and a 200 day simple moving average of $143.82. The company has a quick ratio of 3.72, a current ratio of 4.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01.

FirstCash (NASDAQ:FCFS) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The company reported $2.26 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.91 by $0.35. The company had revenue of $904.27 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $845.28 million. FirstCash had a return on equity of 17.44% and a net margin of 8.88%.FirstCash’s quarterly revenue was up 11.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.67 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that FirstCash will post 7.7 EPS for the current year.

FirstCash declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Thursday, October 30th that authorizes the company to repurchase $150.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to reacquire up to 2.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at FirstCash

In other FirstCash news, COO Thomas Brent Stuart sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.97, for a total transaction of $1,599,700.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 127,724 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,432,008.28. The trade was a 7.26% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Randel G. Owen sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $152.20, for a total transaction of $228,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 7,651 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,164,482.20. This represents a 16.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 44,500 shares of company stock worth $7,023,548 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 14.77% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On FirstCash

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of FirstCash by 2.1% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,096,956 shares of the company’s stock valued at $649,040,000 after buying an additional 83,113 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in FirstCash by 1.2% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 980,738 shares of the company’s stock worth $132,552,000 after acquiring an additional 11,534 shares in the last quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC raised its position in FirstCash by 1.0% in the third quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC now owns 857,510 shares of the company’s stock worth $135,847,000 after acquiring an additional 8,610 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. lifted its holdings in FirstCash by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 742,610 shares of the company’s stock valued at $117,644,000 after acquiring an additional 28,704 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners boosted its position in shares of FirstCash by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 658,961 shares of the company’s stock valued at $88,871,000 after purchasing an additional 8,503 shares in the last quarter. 80.30% of the stock is 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.