Hsbc Holdings PLC Sells 11,685 Shares of FirstCash Holdings, Inc. $FCFS

Key Points

• Hsbc Holdings PLC significantly reduced its stake in FirstCash Holdings, decreasing its holdings by 63.5% to 6,705 shares, which were valued at approximately $806,000 as of its latest filing.
• Several institutional investors increased their holdings in FirstCash, with AQR Capital Management raising its stake by 24.7% during the fourth quarter, indicating continued institutional interest in the company.
• FirstCash recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.42 per share, an increase from the previous dividend of $0.38, reflecting a 25.81% dividend payout ratio.

Hsbc Holdings PLC trimmed its position in FirstCash Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:FCFS - Free Report) by 63.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 6,705 shares of the company's stock after selling 11,685 shares during the quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC's holdings in FirstCash were worth $806,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of FCFS. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its holdings in FirstCash by 808.0% in the 1st quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 227 shares of the company's stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 202 shares during the period. CX Institutional bought a new position in FirstCash in the 1st quarter valued at about $42,000. UMB Bank n.a. raised its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 283 shares during the period. CWM LLC raised its holdings in FirstCash by 92.9% in the 1st quarter. CWM LLC now owns 517 shares of the company's stock valued at $62,000 after acquiring an additional 249 shares during the period. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group raised its holdings in FirstCash by 7,233.3% in the 1st quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 660 shares of the company's stock valued at $79,000 after acquiring an additional 651 shares during the period. 80.30% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, 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 of the company's stock, valued at $129,205,353.42. This trade represents a 6.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Howard F. Hambleton sold 3,900 shares of FirstCash stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $130.93, for a total transaction of $510,627.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 32,481 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,252,737.33. This represents a 10.72% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 109,900 shares of company stock valued at $15,193,007. Insiders own 14.77% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

FirstCash Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ FCFS traded up $0.26 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $149.74. 249,511 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 306,585. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 3.12 and a current ratio of 4.21. The company has a market cap of $6.64 billion, a PE ratio of 23.00 and a beta of 0.70. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $135.82 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $127.69. FirstCash Holdings, Inc. has a 1-year low of $100.24 and a 1-year high of $150.08.

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

FirstCash Increases Dividend

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

About FirstCash

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.