Erste Asset Management GmbH Increases Stock Position in FirstCash Holdings, Inc. $FCFS

Key Points

• Erste Asset Management GmbH increased its stake in FirstCash Holdings by 12.4%, now owning 208,000 shares valued at approximately $25 million.
• FirstCash has declared a quarterly dividend of $0.42 per share, up from the previous $0.38, with a payout ratio of 25.81%.
• FirstCash recently reported earnings per share of $1.79, surpassing expectations, and had a revenue of $830.62 million for the quarter.

Erste Asset Management GmbH increased its stake in shares of FirstCash Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:FCFS - Free Report) by 12.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 208,000 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 23,000 shares during the quarter. Erste Asset Management GmbH owned 0.47% of FirstCash worth $25,027,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of FirstCash by 808.0% during the first quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 227 shares of the company's stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 202 shares in the last quarter. CX Institutional purchased a new position in FirstCash in the first quarter worth approximately $42,000. UMB Bank n.a. grew its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 283 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC grew its holdings in FirstCash by 92.9% during the 1st quarter. CWM LLC now owns 517 shares of the company's stock worth $62,000 after acquiring an additional 249 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP increased its position in shares of FirstCash by 986.5% in the 4th quarter. Quarry LP now owns 565 shares of the company's stock valued at $59,000 after purchasing an additional 513 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.30% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FCFS has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wall Street Zen cut shares of FirstCash from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, July 12th. Capital One Financial set a $160.00 price target on FirstCash in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Cowen reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of FirstCash in a report on Monday, August 18th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded FirstCash to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, August 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and three have issued a Buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $142.33.

FirstCash Stock Performance

NASDAQ:FCFS traded up $1.96 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $146.34. 86,637 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 305,665. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.50 and a beta of 0.68. FirstCash Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $100.24 and a 1 year high of $147.00. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $133.26 and a 200-day simple moving average of $126.18. 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 (NASDAQ:FCFS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 24th. The company reported $1.79 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.66 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $830.62 million during 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 firm's revenue for the quarter was up .0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.37 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that FirstCash Holdings, Inc. will post 7.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

FirstCash Increases Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director James H. Graves sold 6,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.56, for a total transaction of $807,360.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 15,846 shares in the company, valued at $2,132,237.76. This represents a 27.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Rick L. Wessel sold 69,024 shares of FirstCash stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.49, for a total transaction of $9,559,133.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 932,958 shares in the company, valued at approximately $129,205,353.42. This trade represents a 6.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 109,900 shares of company stock valued at $15,193,007. Insiders own 14.77% of the company's stock.

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.