Summit Investment Advisors Inc. Trims Stake in FirstCash Holdings, Inc. $FCFS

Summit Investment Advisors Inc. lessened its stake in shares of FirstCash Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:FCFS) by 3.4% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 11,558 shares of the company’s stock after selling 402 shares during the period. Summit Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in FirstCash were worth $1,391,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in FCFS. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of FirstCash in the first quarter valued at $55,340,000. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt increased its position in FirstCash by 1,350.3% during the 2nd quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 250,900 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,907,000 after purchasing an additional 233,600 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC raised its stake in FirstCash by 51.1% in the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 293,750 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,344,000 after purchasing an additional 99,361 shares during the last quarter. Heartland Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in FirstCash by 525.6% in the 1st quarter. Heartland Advisors Inc. now owns 67,147 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,079,000 after purchasing an additional 56,414 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. acquired a new stake in shares of FirstCash during the 1st quarter worth about $6,206,000. 80.30% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

FirstCash Trading Up 0.7%

Shares of FCFS opened at $162.52 on Wednesday. FirstCash Holdings, Inc. has a twelve month low of $100.24 and a twelve month high of $166.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.96 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a current ratio of 4.21, a quick ratio of 3.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $153.27 and its 200 day simple moving average is $140.15.

FirstCash (NASDAQ:FCFS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The company reported $2.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.91 by $0.35. The firm had revenue of $935.58 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $845.28 million. FirstCash had a return on equity of 16.63% and a net margin of 8.61%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.67 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that FirstCash Holdings, Inc. will post 7.7 earnings per share for the current year.

FirstCash announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, October 30th that authorizes the company to repurchase $150.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to repurchase up to 2.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

FirstCash Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 26th. Investors of record on Friday, November 14th will be given a dividend of $0.42 per share. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 14th. FirstCash’s dividend payout ratio is 24.24%.

Insider Activity at FirstCash

In other news, CFO R Douglas Orr sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.64, for a total value of $638,560.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 93,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,937,035.88. This trade represents a 4.10% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Rick L. Wessel sold 69,024 shares of FirstCash stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.49, for a total transaction of $9,559,133.76. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 932,958 shares in the company, valued at $129,205,353.42. The trade was a 6.89% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 113,000 shares of company stock worth $15,883,363 in the last 90 days. 2.93% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wall Street Zen raised shares of FirstCash from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of FirstCash in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Zacks Research upgraded FirstCash from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 10th. Jefferies Financial Group raised FirstCash to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 18th. Finally, Capital One Financial set a $160.00 target price on FirstCash in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, FirstCash presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $167.00.

FirstCash 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.