FirstCash Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:FCFS) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

FirstCash Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:FCFS) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 718,600 shares, an increase of 15.1% from the October 15th total of 624,400 shares. Approximately 1.9% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 249,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.9 days.

FirstCash Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:FCFS opened at $105.77 on Monday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $111.90 and its two-hundred day moving average is $112.64. 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 has a 12-month low of $101.62 and a 12-month high of $133.64. The company has a market cap of $4.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.59 and a beta of 0.64.

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

FirstCash Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be paid a $0.38 dividend. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.44%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. FirstCash’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.15%.

Insider Transactions at FirstCash

In other FirstCash news, CFO R Douglas Orr sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Douglas Richard Rippel sold 7,316 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.98, for a total value of $877,773.68. Following the completion of the sale, the director now 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 16,154 shares of company stock worth $1,909,562. Company insiders own 14.77% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On FirstCash

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. increased its stake in shares of FirstCash by 4.6% in the second quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 2,173 shares of the company’s stock worth $228,000 after acquiring an additional 95 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp increased its position in FirstCash by 5.6% during the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 2,376 shares of the company’s stock worth $298,000 after buying an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its position in FirstCash by 1.5% during the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 9,147 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,050,000 after buying an additional 138 shares during the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust increased its position in FirstCash by 15.4% during the second quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 1,230 shares of the company’s stock worth $129,000 after buying an additional 164 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp increased its position in FirstCash by 1.0% during the second quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 17,252 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,809,000 after buying an additional 168 shares during the last quarter. 80.30% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FCFS has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Stephens initiated coverage on FirstCash in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $137.00 target price for the company. TD Cowen cut their price objective on FirstCash from $134.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 28th.

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.