FirstCash Inc (NASDAQ:FCFS) issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday. The credit services provider reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.05, Bloomberg Earnings reports. The business had revenue of $416.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $410.65 million. FirstCash had a net margin of 7.29% and a return on equity of 8.92%. FirstCash’s revenue for the quarter was up 128.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.51 earnings per share. FirstCash updated its FY17 guidance to $2.60-2.70 EPS.
Shares of FirstCash (NASDAQ FCFS) traded down 0.85% during trading on Friday, reaching $58.45. 173,487 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged. The stock has a market cap of $2.82 billion, a PE ratio of 31.65 and a beta of 0.90. FirstCash has a 52-week low of $39.80 and a 52-week high of $60.75. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $57.54 and its 200-day moving average price is $50.15.
The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 15th will be paid a $0.19 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 11th. This represents a $0.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.30%. FirstCash’s payout ratio is presently 25.38%.
A number of brokerages recently weighed in on FCFS. JMP Securities raised their price target on shares of FirstCash and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. CL King lowered shares of FirstCash from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. BidaskClub lowered shares of FirstCash from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 24th. Janney Montgomery Scott lowered shares of FirstCash from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $58.55 to $58.00 in a report on Monday, July 17th. Finally, Zacks Investment Research raised shares of FirstCash from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $65.00 price target for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 11th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. FirstCash has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $57.86.
FirstCash declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Monday, May 15th that allows the company to repurchase $100.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the credit services provider to purchase up to 4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.
In other FirstCash news, CFO R Douglas Orr sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.50, for a total value of $262,500.00. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website.
A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in FCFS. BlackRock Inc. boosted its position in shares of FirstCash by 77,659.7% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 5,898,853 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $289,930,000 after buying an additional 5,891,267 shares during the period. Park West Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of FirstCash by 247.3% in the first quarter. Park West Asset Management LLC now owns 949,415 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $46,664,000 after buying an additional 676,019 shares during the period. Fiduciary Management Inc. WI boosted its position in shares of FirstCash by 27.6% in the first quarter. Fiduciary Management Inc. WI now owns 3,029,034 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $148,877,000 after buying an additional 654,624 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of FirstCash by 98.6% in the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,267,147 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $62,280,000 after buying an additional 629,104 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of FirstCash during the fourth quarter valued at about $24,894,000.
About FirstCash
FirstCash, Inc, formerly First Cash Financial Services, Inc, is an operator of retail-based pawn stores in the United States and Latin America. The Company’s primary business is the operation of full-service pawn stores, which make small pawn loans secured by personal property, such as consumer electronics, jewelry, power tools, household appliances, sporting goods and musical instruments.
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