FirstCash Holdings, Inc. $FCFS Stake Raised by Royce & Associates LP

Royce & Associates LP increased its stake in FirstCash Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:FCFS) by 2.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 99,624 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,526 shares during the quarter. Royce & Associates LP owned approximately 0.23% of FirstCash worth $15,878,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of FirstCash by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,096,956 shares of the company’s stock valued at $649,040,000 after acquiring an additional 83,113 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. lifted its stake in shares of FirstCash by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 742,610 shares of the company’s stock valued at $117,644,000 after purchasing an additional 28,704 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in FirstCash by 67.6% during the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 623,059 shares of the company’s stock worth $97,503,000 after acquiring an additional 251,305 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in FirstCash by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 539,634 shares of the company’s stock worth $85,489,000 after acquiring an additional 1,771 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in FirstCash by 76.3% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 534,571 shares of the company’s stock worth $84,687,000 after acquiring an additional 231,379 shares during the last quarter. 80.30% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Zacks Research raised shares of FirstCash from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of FirstCash from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, May 10th. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price target on shares of FirstCash from $242.00 to $252.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of FirstCash from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Finally, TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of FirstCash from $205.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $198.00.

Insider Activity at FirstCash

In related news, CFO R Douglas Orr sold 2,000 shares of FirstCash stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $227.29, for a total transaction of $454,580.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Paula K. Garrett sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $217.40, for a total transaction of $326,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 6,564 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,427,013.60. This represents a 18.60% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 17,500 shares of company stock worth $3,972,130. 2.86% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

FirstCash Stock Performance

Shares of FCFS opened at $232.05 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $208.84 and a 200-day moving average of $183.51. FirstCash Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $119.21 and a one year high of $235.97. The company has a market cap of $10.17 billion, a PE ratio of 29.08 and a beta of 0.52. 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 announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The company reported $2.69 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.30 by $0.39. The business had revenue of $1.05 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1 billion. FirstCash had a net margin of 9.15% and a return on equity of 18.68%. FirstCash’s revenue was up 25.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.07 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that FirstCash Holdings, Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current year.

FirstCash Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 29th. Investors of record on Friday, May 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.42 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 15th. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. FirstCash’s payout ratio is presently 21.05%.

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.