FirstCash (NASDAQ:FCFS) Trading 4.2% Higher – Time to Buy?

FirstCash Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:FCFS)’s stock price shot up 4.2% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $127.00 and last traded at $127.22. 321,585 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 25% from the average session volume of 258,146 shares. The stock had previously closed at $122.08.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $137.00 price objective on shares of FirstCash in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th.

FirstCash Trading Up 4.3 %

The company has a market cap of $5.70 billion, a PE ratio of 22.22 and a beta of 0.63. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $115.10 and its 200 day moving average is $111.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 4.14 and a quick ratio of 3.15.

FirstCash (NASDAQ:FCFS) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The company reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.10. FirstCash had a net margin of 7.64% and a return on equity of 14.99%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that FirstCash Holdings, Inc. will post 7.7 earnings per share for the current year.

FirstCash Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were given a dividend of $0.38 per share. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.19%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. FirstCash’s payout ratio is currently 26.53%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, major shareholder Douglas Richard Rippel sold 300,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.43, for a total transaction of $34,029,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 4,431,869 shares in the company, valued at approximately $502,706,900.67. This represents a 6.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO R Douglas Orr sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.35, for a total value of $226,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 100,567 shares in the company, valued at $11,399,269.45. The trade was a 1.95 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 14.77% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On FirstCash

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in FCFS. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust boosted its holdings in FirstCash by 7.4% in the fourth quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 1,370 shares of the company’s stock valued at $142,000 after acquiring an additional 94 shares in the last quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC increased its position in shares of FirstCash by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC now owns 4,595 shares of the company’s stock valued at $476,000 after buying an additional 105 shares during the period. Bank of Nova Scotia raised its stake in FirstCash by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 3,403 shares of the company’s stock worth $353,000 after buying an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC boosted its position in FirstCash by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 7,347 shares of the company’s stock valued at $826,000 after acquiring an additional 127 shares in the last quarter. Finally, J.Safra Asset Management Corp grew its holdings in shares of FirstCash by 38.8% during the 4th quarter. J.Safra Asset Management Corp now owns 454 shares of the company’s stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 127 shares during the period. 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.