Engineers Gate Manager LP Buys Shares of 7,839 FirstCash Holdings, Inc. $FCFS

Key Points

• Engineers Gate Manager LP purchased 7,839 FirstCash shares worth approximately $1.7 million during the second quarter. Institutional investors collectively own 80.30% of the company.
• Analyst sentiment remains positive, with a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and a $249 price target. FirstCash recently exceeded quarterly EPS and revenue estimates, with revenue rising 29.4% year over year.
• FirstCash declared a quarterly dividend of $0.42 per share, representing a $1.68 annualized payout and a 0.8% yield; meanwhile, company insiders sold more than 14,000 shares over the prior three months.

Engineers Gate Manager LP purchased a new position in shares of FirstCash Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:FCFS - Free Report) during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 7,839 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,696,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in FirstCash during the 1st quarter worth approximately $26,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of FirstCash in the first quarter worth $29,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of FirstCash during the second quarter worth $34,000. Assetmark Inc. increased its position in shares of FirstCash by 113.2% during the first quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 194 shares of the company's stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares during the period. Finally, Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd raised its stake in shares of FirstCash by 531.7% in the fourth quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 259 shares of the company's stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 218 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.30% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on FCFS shares. Loop Capital raised FirstCash from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $255.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 10th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on FirstCash from $235.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of FirstCash from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, September 5th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of FirstCash from a "buy (b+)" rating to a "buy (b)" rating in a report on Friday, August 21st. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of FirstCash from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 23rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $249.00.

FirstCash Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:FCFS opened at $219.70 on Thursday. The company's fifty day moving average price is $214.87 and its 200 day moving average price is $212.42. FirstCash Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $145.42 and a 12 month high of $238.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 4.89 and a quick ratio of 3.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.08 and a beta of 0.53.

FirstCash (NASDAQ:FCFS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The company reported $2.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.39 by $0.11. FirstCash had a net margin of 9.42% and a return on equity of 19.65%. The company had revenue of $1.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.03 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.34 earnings per share. FirstCash's revenue for the quarter was up 29.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that FirstCash Holdings, Inc. will post 11.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

FirstCash Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 14th were given a dividend of $0.42 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 14th. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. FirstCash's payout ratio is 19.18%.

Insider Transactions at FirstCash

In other news, Director James H. Graves sold 3,750 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $221.20, for a total transaction of $829,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 11,929 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,638,694.80. This represents a 23.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Howard F. Hambleton sold 2,000 shares of FirstCash stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $212.98, for a total value of $425,960.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 30,406 shares in the company, valued at $6,475,869.88. This trade represents a 6.17% 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 a total of 14,098 shares of company stock worth $3,051,281 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 2.86% of the company's stock.

FirstCash Profile

FirstCash, Inc NASDAQ: FCFS is a specialty consumer-finance and retail company focused primarily on pawn-based lending. Through its pawn stores, the company provides short-term, non-recourse loans secured by personal property, allowing customers to obtain cash without traditional credit underwriting. Customers may repay the loan and reclaim the pledged item or forfeit the collateral under applicable regulations.

FirstCash also generates revenue by selling merchandise obtained through forfeited pawn loans and by purchasing used goods directly from consumers.

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