Nicolet Advisory Services LLC Buys New Position in FirstCash Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:FCFS)

Key Points

• Nicolet Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in FirstCash Holdings, investing approximately $232,000 by purchasing 1,940 shares during the 1st quarter.
• FirstCash has increased its quarterly dividend to $0.42 per share, reflecting a 1.3% yield, with the ex-dividend date set for August 15th.
• Analysts downgraded FirstCash from a "strong-buy" to a "buy" rating, although recent earnings exceeded expectations with an EPS of $1.79.

Nicolet Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of FirstCash Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:FCFS - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 1,940 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $232,000.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Xponance Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of FirstCash by 1.6% during the first quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 5,552 shares of the company's stock valued at $668,000 after purchasing an additional 87 shares during the last quarter. MBM Wealth Consultants LLC lifted its stake in FirstCash by 1.6% in the first quarter. MBM Wealth Consultants LLC now owns 5,757 shares of the company's stock valued at $693,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System raised its holdings in FirstCash by 1.1% during the first quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 9,315 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,121,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System boosted its position in FirstCash by 0.9% during the first quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 10,900 shares of the company's stock worth $1,311,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of Nova Scotia raised its holdings in FirstCash by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 3,403 shares of the company's stock worth $353,000 after acquiring an additional 117 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.30% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at FirstCash

In other news, insider Howard F. Hambleton sold 3,900 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $130.93, for a total transaction of $510,627.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 32,481 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,252,737.33. This trade represents a 10.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director James H. Graves sold 6,000 shares of FirstCash 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 completion of the sale, the director directly owned 15,846 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,132,237.76. This represents a 27.46% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 14.77% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of FirstCash from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, July 12th.

FirstCash Price Performance

Shares of FirstCash stock traded down $1.47 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $133.28. 299,753 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 372,724. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $130.61 and a 200-day simple moving average of $123.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 4.21 and a quick ratio of 3.12. FirstCash Holdings, Inc. has a 52 week low of $100.24 and a 52 week high of $138.42. The firm has a market cap of $5.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.47 and a beta of 0.68.

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

FirstCash Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be given a dividend of $0.42 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 15th. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. This is a positive change from FirstCash's previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. FirstCash's dividend payout ratio is presently 23.35%.

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.