FirstCash Holdings, Inc. $FCFS Shares Bought by Millennium Management LLC

Key Points

• Millennium Management LLC increased its stake in FirstCash Holdings by 51.1% during the 1st quarter, now holding 293,750 shares valued at approximately $35.34 million.
• FirstCash recently disclosed a quarterly dividend increase to $0.42 per share, up from $0.38, alongside a 1.2% yield.
• After the company beat earnings estimates with an EPS of $1.79, several brokerages revised their ratings, with Jefferies upgrading FirstCash to a "strong-buy".

Millennium Management LLC increased its position in FirstCash Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:FCFS - Free Report) by 51.1% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 293,750 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 99,361 shares during the quarter. Millennium Management LLC owned about 0.66% of FirstCash worth $35,344,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in FCFS. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of FirstCash by 808.0% in the first quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 227 shares of the company's stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 202 shares in the last quarter. CX Institutional bought a new stake in shares of FirstCash in the 1st quarter worth approximately $42,000. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its position in FirstCash by 167.5% during the first 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 FirstCash by 92.9% during 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, State of Wyoming bought a new position in shares of FirstCash in the first quarter worth approximately $65,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.30% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. Jefferies Financial Group raised FirstCash to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, August 18th. Capital One Financial set a $160.00 target price on shares of FirstCash in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Loop Capital downgraded FirstCash from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $145.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Friday, September 5th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of FirstCash from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, July 12th. Finally, Cowen reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of FirstCash in a research note on Monday, August 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, FirstCash has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $143.00.

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 value of $807,360.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 15,846 shares of the company's stock, 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Rick L. Wessel sold 30,976 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.33, for a total value of $4,315,886.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 901,982 shares in the company, valued at approximately $125,673,152.06. The trade was a 3.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 111,500 shares of company stock worth $15,493,610. 14.77% of the stock is owned by insiders.

FirstCash Trading Down 0.9%

Shares of FCFS stock traded down $1.27 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $145.69. 168,931 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 251,970. The company has a current ratio of 4.21, a quick ratio of 3.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The company's 50-day moving average price is $138.16 and its 200-day moving average price is $129.99. FirstCash Holdings, Inc. has a 12-month low of $100.24 and a 12-month high of $150.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.38 and a beta of 0.70.

FirstCash (NASDAQ:FCFS - Get Free Report) last posted 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. The firm had revenue of $830.62 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $820.42 million. FirstCash had a net margin of 8.61% and a return on equity of 16.63%. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.37 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up .0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that FirstCash Holdings, Inc. will post 7.7 earnings per share for the current year.

FirstCash Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th were given a $0.42 dividend. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 15th. This is an increase from FirstCash's previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. FirstCash's payout ratio is presently 25.81%.

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.