TD Cowen Raises FirstCash (NASDAQ:FCFS) Price Target to $188.00

FirstCash (NASDAQ:FCFS) had its price objective upped by TD Cowen from $181.00 to $188.00 in a research report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “buy” rating on the stock. TD Cowen’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 18.61% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other equities analysts have also weighed in on FCFS. Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of FirstCash in a report on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of FirstCash to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 18th. Loop Capital lowered shares of FirstCash from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $145.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Friday, September 5th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of FirstCash in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of FirstCash from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, October 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $167.00.

FirstCash Price Performance

FCFS opened at $158.50 on Friday. FirstCash has a one year low of $100.24 and a one year high of $163.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 4.21 and a quick ratio of 3.12. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $151.43 and its 200-day simple moving average is $138.20. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.35 and a beta of 0.69.

FirstCash (NASDAQ:FCFS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The company reported $2.26 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.91 by $0.35. FirstCash had a net margin of 8.61% and a return on equity of 16.63%. The business had revenue of $935.58 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $845.28 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.67 earnings per share. FirstCash’s revenue was up 11.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that FirstCash will post 7.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

FirstCash announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Thursday, October 30th that permits the company to repurchase $150.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to repurchase up to 2.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other FirstCash news, CEO Rick L. Wessel sold 30,976 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.33, for a total value of $4,315,886.08. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 901,982 shares in the company, valued at approximately $125,673,152.06. This trade represents a 3.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director James H. Graves sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.56, for a total transaction of $807,360.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 15,846 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,132,237.76. This trade represents a 27.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 119,000 shares of company stock worth $16,690,723. Company insiders own 2.93% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On FirstCash

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Root Financial Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of FirstCash during the third quarter worth $25,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of FirstCash during the second quarter worth $25,000. IFP Advisors Inc raised its holdings in shares of FirstCash by 181.6% during the second quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 290 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 187 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd raised its holdings in shares of FirstCash by 130.7% during the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 413 shares of the company’s stock worth $65,000 after acquiring an additional 234 shares during the period. Finally, CX Institutional raised its holdings in shares of FirstCash by 24.7% during the second quarter. CX Institutional now owns 434 shares of the company’s stock worth $59,000 after acquiring an additional 86 shares during the period. 80.30% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.