Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Acquires New Position in FirstCash Holdings, Inc. $FCFS

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new position in shares of FirstCash Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:FCFS) during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm bought 11,200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,106,000.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in FirstCash by 96.0% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 240,441 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,091,000 after buying an additional 117,788 shares during the period. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. boosted its position in FirstCash by 9.3% during the 1st quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 474,977 shares of the company’s stock worth $89,296,000 after purchasing an additional 40,535 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its holdings in shares of FirstCash by 70,840.3% during the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 43,983 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,010,000 after buying an additional 43,921 shares during the period. Brant Point Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of FirstCash during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,391,000. Finally, Westfield Capital Management Co. LP increased its stake in FirstCash by 27.3% during the 4th quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 537,734 shares of the company’s stock worth $85,704,000 after buying an additional 115,279 shares during the period. 80.30% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

FirstCash Stock Up 0.5%

NASDAQ FCFS opened at $216.32 on Wednesday. FirstCash Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $119.21 and a 12 month high of $235.97. The company has a market capitalization of $9.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.11 and a beta of 0.52. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $221.60 and its 200 day simple moving average is $194.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 4.77 and a quick ratio of 3.42.

FirstCash (NASDAQ:FCFS) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The company reported $2.69 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.30 by $0.39. The firm had revenue of $1.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1 billion. FirstCash had a net margin of 9.15% and a return on equity of 18.68%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.07 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that FirstCash Holdings, Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

FirstCash Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 15th were paid a dividend of $0.42 per share. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 15th. FirstCash’s payout ratio is 21.05%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on FCFS. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price target on shares of FirstCash from $242.00 to $252.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Wall Street Zen downgraded FirstCash from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, May 10th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of FirstCash from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. TD Cowen increased their price target on FirstCash from $205.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of FirstCash from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $198.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO R Douglas Orr sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $227.29, for a total transaction of $454,580.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 35,734 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,121,980.86. The trade was a 5.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, COO Thomas Brent Stuart sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.49, for a total value of $2,284,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 140,846 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,181,902.54. This represents a 6.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 27,500 shares of company stock valued at $6,243,104. 2.86% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About FirstCash

FirstCash, Inc (NASDAQ: FCFS) is a leading integrated operator of pawn stores and provider of short-term consumer loan services in the United States and Mexico. Through its retail pawn outlets, FirstCash offers collateral-based loans secured by personal property, enabling customers to access liquidity without a credit history or traditional bank account. The company also purchases, trades and sells a broad range of secondhand merchandise, including electronics, jewelry and power tools, through its network of conveniently located stores.

In addition to its pawn-broking activities, FirstCash provides unsecured consumer loans designed to meet urgent cash needs.