Bessemer Group Inc. Purchases 11,358 Shares of FirstCash Holdings, Inc. $FCFS

Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its holdings in FirstCash Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:FCFS) by 4.2% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 282,953 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 11,358 shares during the quarter. Bessemer Group Inc.’s holdings in FirstCash were worth $53,195,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Villanova Investment Management Co LLC boosted its position in FirstCash by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Villanova Investment Management Co LLC now owns 12,783 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,037,000 after buying an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of FirstCash by 29.6% during the 1st quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 245 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Ascent Group LLC increased its stake in FirstCash by 6.0% during the 4th quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 1,423 shares of the company’s stock valued at $227,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. Pullen Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of FirstCash by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Pullen Investment Management LLC now owns 20,263 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,230,000 after purchasing an additional 87 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Yousif Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of FirstCash by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 8,260 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,393,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.30% of the company’s stock.

FirstCash Stock Performance

FirstCash stock opened at $213.61 on Friday. FirstCash Holdings, Inc. has a 1-year low of $119.21 and a 1-year high of $235.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.77 and a beta of 0.53. The company’s 50-day moving average is $221.93 and its 200 day moving average is $199.51. 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 released its quarterly earnings data 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. FirstCash had a net margin of 9.15% and a return on equity of 18.68%. The company had revenue of $1.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.07 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that FirstCash Holdings, Inc. will post 11.33 EPS for the current year.

FirstCash Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FCFS has been the topic of several recent research reports. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price objective on shares of FirstCash from $242.00 to $252.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on FirstCash from $235.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Zacks Research downgraded FirstCash from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Wall Street Zen lowered FirstCash from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, May 10th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded FirstCash from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $199.25.

Insider Transactions at FirstCash

In other news, COO Thomas Brent Stuart sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief operating officer owned 140,846 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $32,181,902.54. This represents a 6.63% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, 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 value of $454,580.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 35,734 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,121,980.86. This represents a 5.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 27,500 shares of company stock worth $6,243,104 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 2.86% of the company’s stock.

FirstCash Profile

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.