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

FirstCash Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:FCFS) saw a large increase in short interest in August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 939,500 shares, an increase of 10.7% from the August 15th total of 848,900 shares. Currently, 2.4% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 297,600 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.2 days.

FirstCash Trading Up 1.1 %

FirstCash stock traded up $1.32 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $119.55. The company had a trading volume of 57,680 shares, compared to its average volume of 244,445. The firm has a market cap of $5.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.99 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 3.04 and a current ratio of 4.03. FirstCash has a 1 year low of $94.55 and a 1 year high of $133.64. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $114.03 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $116.17.

FirstCash (NASDAQ:FCFS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The company reported $1.37 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.32 by $0.05. FirstCash had a net margin of 7.17% and a return on equity of 14.90%. The firm had revenue of $831.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $824.87 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.22 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 10.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that FirstCash will post 6.56 earnings per share for the current year.

FirstCash Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 30th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 15th were given a $0.38 dividend. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.27%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 15th. This is a boost from FirstCash’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. FirstCash’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.63%.

Insider Activity at FirstCash

In other FirstCash news, Director Douglas Richard Rippel sold 600 shares of FirstCash stock in a transaction on Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.07, for a total value of $72,042.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 4,735,243 shares in the company, valued at approximately $568,560,627.01. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other FirstCash news, Director Douglas Richard Rippel sold 600 shares of FirstCash stock in a transaction on Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.07, for a total value of $72,042.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 4,735,243 shares in the company, valued at approximately $568,560,627.01. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO R Douglas Orr sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $107.18, for a total transaction of $214,360.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 90,715 shares in the company, valued at $9,722,833.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 16,154 shares of company stock worth $1,912,562. 14.77% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On FirstCash

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of FCFS. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of FirstCash during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $54,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of FirstCash during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $836,000. Quarry LP raised its stake in shares of FirstCash by 511.1% during the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,100 shares of the company’s stock worth $115,000 after acquiring an additional 920 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning raised its stake in shares of FirstCash by 14.0% during the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 10,127 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,062,000 after acquiring an additional 1,242 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Algert Global LLC raised its stake in shares of FirstCash by 60.8% during the 2nd quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 10,220 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,072,000 after acquiring an additional 3,863 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.30% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, BTIG Research assumed coverage on shares of FirstCash in a report on Friday, June 7th. They set a “neutral” rating on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $142.00.

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.