FirstCash Holdings, Inc. $FCFS Shares Sold by Simplex Trading LLC

Key Points

• Simplex Trading LLC has significantly reduced its stake in FirstCash Holdings, Inc. by 96.1%, selling 15,451 shares and holding only 626 shares valued at $75,000.
• CEO Rick L. Wessel sold 69,024 shares for over $9.5 million, indicating a 6.89% decrease in his ownership.
• FirstCash announced a quarterly dividend increase to $0.42 per share, reflecting a 1.2% dividend yield, with the ex-dividend date on August 15th.

Simplex Trading LLC trimmed its position in shares of FirstCash Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:FCFS - Free Report) by 96.1% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 626 shares of the company's stock after selling 15,451 shares during the quarter. Simplex Trading LLC's holdings in FirstCash were worth $75,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its holdings in 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 during the period. CX Institutional purchased a new stake in FirstCash in the 1st quarter worth $42,000. UMB Bank n.a. raised its position in FirstCash by 167.5% during the first quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 452 shares of the company's stock worth $54,000 after acquiring an additional 283 shares during the period. Quarry LP lifted its holdings in FirstCash by 986.5% during the fourth quarter. Quarry LP now owns 565 shares of the company's stock valued at $59,000 after purchasing an additional 513 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC grew its position in shares of FirstCash by 92.9% in the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 517 shares of the company's stock valued at $62,000 after purchasing an additional 249 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.30% of the company's stock.

FirstCash Trading Up 0.8%

Shares of NASDAQ FCFS traded up $1.14 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $148.39. 128,690 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 305,772. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $133.96 and a 200-day moving average price of $126.57. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $6.58 billion, a PE ratio of 22.79 and a beta of 0.68. FirstCash Holdings, Inc. has a 12-month low of $100.24 and a 12-month high of $148.73.

FirstCash (NASDAQ:FCFS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. The firm had revenue of $830.62 million during 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%. FirstCash's revenue was up .0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.37 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that FirstCash Holdings, Inc. will post 7.7 EPS for the current year.

FirstCash Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.42 per share. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.1%. This is a boost from FirstCash's previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 15th. FirstCash's payout ratio is 25.81%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Insider Buying and Selling at FirstCash

In related news, Director James H. Graves sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.56, for a total transaction of $807,360.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 15,846 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,132,237.76. This represents a 27.46% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Rick L. Wessel sold 30,976 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 901,982 shares of the company's stock, valued at $125,673,152.06. This trade represents a 3.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 109,900 shares of company stock valued at $15,193,007 over the last quarter. 14.77% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.