Royal Bank of Canada Sells 11,946 Shares of FirstCash Holdings, Inc. $FCFS

Royal Bank of Canada reduced its stake in FirstCash Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:FCFS - Free Report) by 5.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 218,867 shares of the company's stock after selling 11,946 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada owned 0.49% of FirstCash worth $26,335,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of FirstCash by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 132,236 shares of the company's stock worth $15,911,000 after acquiring an additional 1,629 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of FirstCash by 8.4% in the 1st quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 3,429 shares of the company's stock worth $413,000 after acquiring an additional 265 shares during the period. Freedom Day Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in shares of FirstCash in the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,524,000. FORA Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of FirstCash in the 1st quarter worth approximately $283,000. Finally, Teacher Retirement System of Texas lifted its stake in shares of FirstCash by 18.2% in the 1st quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 11,522 shares of the company's stock worth $1,386,000 after acquiring an additional 1,771 shares during the period. 80.30% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

FirstCash Stock Down 1.2%

FirstCash stock traded down $1.73 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $146.34. The company had a trading volume of 157,786 shares, compared to its average volume of 256,529. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.48 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 4.21 and a quick ratio of 3.12. The firm's fifty day moving average is $137.70 and its 200-day moving average is $129.38. FirstCash Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $100.24 and a fifty-two week high of $150.92.

FirstCash (NASDAQ:FCFS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 24th. The company reported $1.79 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.66 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $830.62 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $820.42 million. FirstCash had a net margin of 8.61% and a return on equity of 16.63%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up .0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.37 EPS. On average, 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 15th were given a $0.42 dividend. This is a positive change from FirstCash's previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 15th. FirstCash's payout ratio is presently 25.81%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other FirstCash news, CFO R Douglas Orr sold 2,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.40, for a total value of $366,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 41,734 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,109,857.60. The trade was a 5.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Rick L. Wessel sold 30,976 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $139.33, for a total transaction of $4,315,886.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 901,982 shares of the company's stock, valued at $125,673,152.06. This represents a 3.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 111,500 shares of company stock valued at $15,493,610 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 2.93% of the company's stock.

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.