American Century Companies Inc. Acquires 3,709 Shares of FirstCash Holdings, Inc. $FCFS

American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in shares of FirstCash Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:FCFS - Free Report) by 37.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 13,521 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 3,709 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc.'s holdings in FirstCash were worth $1,627,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in FCFS. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of FirstCash by 808.0% in the first quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 227 shares of the company's stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 202 shares during the last quarter. CX Institutional acquired a new stake in FirstCash in the 1st quarter worth $42,000. UMB Bank n.a. increased its holdings in shares of FirstCash by 167.5% during the 1st quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 452 shares of the company's stock worth $54,000 after purchasing an additional 283 shares during the period. CWM LLC raised its position in shares of FirstCash by 92.9% during the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 517 shares of the company's stock valued at $62,000 after buying an additional 249 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Forum Financial Management LP acquired a new position in shares of FirstCash during the first quarter valued at about $204,000. 80.30% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

FirstCash Price Performance

FCFS stock traded up $1.09 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $150.83. 147,572 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 280,989. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $136.12 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $127.84. The company has a quick ratio of 3.12, a current ratio of 4.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. FirstCash Holdings, Inc. has a 1-year low of $100.24 and a 1-year high of $150.92. The company has a market cap of $6.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.57 and a beta of 0.70.

FirstCash (NASDAQ:FCFS - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The company reported $1.79 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.66 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $830.62 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $820.42 million. FirstCash had a return on equity of 16.63% and a net margin of 8.61%.The business's revenue for the quarter was up .0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.37 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that FirstCash Holdings, Inc. will post 7.7 earnings per share for the current year.

FirstCash Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 29th. Investors of record on Friday, August 15th were issued a $0.42 dividend. This is an increase from FirstCash's previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 15th. FirstCash's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 25.81%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have commented on the company. Cowen reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of FirstCash in a report on Monday, August 18th. Wall Street Zen lowered FirstCash from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, July 12th. Capital One Financial set a $160.00 price target on shares of FirstCash in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of FirstCash to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, August 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and three have issued a Buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $142.33.

Insider Buying and Selling at FirstCash

In other FirstCash news, Director James H. Graves sold 6,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.56, for a total transaction of $807,360.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 15,846 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,132,237.76. This trade represents a 27.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Rick L. Wessel sold 30,976 shares of FirstCash stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $139.33, for a total transaction of $4,315,886.08. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 901,982 shares in the company, valued at approximately $125,673,152.06. This represents a 3.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 115,400 shares of company stock worth $16,004,237 over the last quarter. 2.93% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

FirstCash Company 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.