Ascent Group LLC Invests $226,000 in FirstCash Holdings, Inc. $FCFS

Ascent Group LLC bought a new position in FirstCash Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:FCFS - Free Report) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 1,672 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $226,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of FCFS. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of FirstCash by 808.0% in the 1st quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 227 shares of the company's stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 202 shares during the last quarter. CX Institutional bought a new stake in shares of FirstCash in the 1st quarter worth about $42,000. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its holdings in shares of FirstCash by 167.5% in the 1st quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 452 shares of the company's stock valued at $54,000 after buying an additional 283 shares during the period. CWM LLC boosted its holdings in shares of FirstCash by 92.9% in the 1st quarter. CWM LLC now owns 517 shares of the company's stock valued at $62,000 after buying an additional 249 shares during the period. Finally, State of Wyoming acquired a new position in shares of FirstCash in the 1st quarter valued at about $65,000. Institutional investors own 80.30% of the company's stock.

FirstCash Stock Up 1.5%

FCFS stock opened at $155.91 on Thursday. FirstCash Holdings, Inc. has a 52 week low of $100.24 and a 52 week high of $158.93. The company has a market capitalization of $6.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.95 and a beta of 0.69. The firm's 50-day moving average is $145.25 and its two-hundred day moving average is $133.91. The company has a current ratio of 4.21, a quick ratio of 3.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79.

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

FirstCash Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 15th were given a dividend of $0.42 per share. This is a positive change from FirstCash's previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 15th. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. FirstCash's payout ratio is presently 25.81%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director James H. Graves sold 6,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.56, for a total value of $807,360.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 15,846 shares in the company, valued at $2,132,237.76. The trade was a 27.46% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO R Douglas Orr sold 2,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.40, for a total transaction of $366,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 41,734 shares in the company, valued at $6,109,857.60. The trade was a 5.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 111,500 shares of company stock worth $15,493,610. 2.93% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FCFS has been the subject of several research reports. Wall Street Zen raised shares of FirstCash from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, October 4th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of FirstCash to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, August 18th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "buy (b)" rating on shares of FirstCash in a report on Wednesday. Canaccord Genuity Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $200.00 price target on shares of FirstCash in a report on Monday. Finally, Capital One Financial set a $160.00 price target on shares of FirstCash in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $154.40.

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.

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