FirstCash Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:FCFS) Short Interest Up 28.8% in November

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

FirstCash Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:FCFS traded down $0.47 during trading on Monday, reaching $108.39. The stock had a trading volume of 2,190 shares, compared to its average volume of 247,301. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $109.79 and its 200 day moving average price is $111.86. FirstCash has a 52 week low of $101.62 and a 52 week high of $133.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.85 billion, a PE ratio of 20.16 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 4.31 and a quick ratio of 3.23.

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

FirstCash Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th were issued a dividend of $0.38 per share. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 15th. FirstCash’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 28.15%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Douglas Richard Rippel sold 600 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $120.07, for a total transaction of $72,042.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 4,735,243 shares in the company, valued at approximately $568,560,627.01. This trade represents a 0.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO R Douglas Orr sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.68, for a total value of $211,360.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 88,715 shares in the company, valued at $9,375,401.20. This trade represents a 2.20 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 5,974 shares of company stock worth $688,080. 14.77% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of FirstCash

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of FCFS. Franklin Resources Inc. bought a new stake in FirstCash in the third quarter valued at approximately $204,000. Synovus Financial Corp increased its stake in FirstCash by 111.2% in the 3rd quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 61,900 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,106,000 after buying an additional 32,592 shares during the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new stake in FirstCash during the 3rd quarter worth about $553,000. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in shares of FirstCash by 163.8% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 81,807 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,391,000 after buying an additional 50,799 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MML Investors Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of FirstCash by 185.2% in the 3rd quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 6,697 shares of the company’s stock valued at $769,000 after acquiring an additional 4,349 shares in the last quarter. 80.30% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on FCFS shares. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on shares of FirstCash from $134.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 28th. Stephens began coverage on FirstCash in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $137.00 target price on the stock.

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.