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

FirstCash Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:FCFS) was the target of a significant growth in short interest during the month of November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 925,600 shares, a growth of 28.8% from the October 31st total of 718,600 shares. Currently, 2.4% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 246,100 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.8 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other FirstCash news, CFO R Douglas Orr sold 2,000 shares of the business’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 owns 88,715 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,375,401.20. The trade was a 2.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Douglas Richard Rippel sold 3,374 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.94, for a total transaction of $404,677.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 4,731,869 shares in the company, valued at $567,540,367.86. This represents a 0.07 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 5,974 shares of company stock valued at $688,080 over the last ninety days. 14.77% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of FirstCash

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of FirstCash during the 2nd quarter worth $54,000. CWM LLC grew its holdings in shares of FirstCash by 157.5% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 569 shares of the company’s stock valued at $65,000 after purchasing an additional 348 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of FirstCash by 28.9% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 900 shares of the company’s stock worth $103,000 after acquiring an additional 202 shares during the period. Quarry LP boosted its stake in shares of FirstCash by 511.1% in the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,100 shares of the company’s stock valued at $115,000 after buying an additional 920 shares during the period. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in FirstCash by 220.3% during the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 977 shares of the company’s stock worth $124,000 after acquiring an additional 672 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.30% of the company’s stock.

FirstCash Stock Down 1.6 %

FirstCash stock traded down $1.75 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $107.11. 185,552 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 248,098. The company has a market cap of $4.79 billion, a PE ratio of 19.87 and a beta of 0.64. FirstCash has a 12 month low of $101.62 and a 12 month high of $133.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 3.23 and a current ratio of 4.31. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $109.79 and a two-hundred day moving average of $111.86.

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

FirstCash Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th were given a dividend of $0.38 per share. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.42%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 15th. FirstCash’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.15%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FCFS has been the subject of several recent research reports. Stephens started coverage on shares of FirstCash in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $137.00 target price for the company. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on shares of FirstCash from $134.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock 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.