Villanova Investment Management Co LLC Decreases Holdings in FirstCash Holdings, Inc. $FCFS

Key Points

• Villanova Investment Management Co LLC significantly reduced its stake in FirstCash Holdings, Inc., decreasing their holdings by 65.9%, now owning 5,467 shares valued at approximately $658,000.
• FirstCash recently increased its quarterly dividend from $0.38 to $0.42, resulting in a dividend yield of 1.2% and a payout ratio of 25.81%.
• FirstCash reported a year-over-year revenue increase of 0.0% and beat earnings expectations with $1.79 per share for the latest quarter, surpassing the estimate of $1.66.

Villanova Investment Management Co LLC lessened its position in shares of FirstCash Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:FCFS - Free Report) by 65.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,467 shares of the company's stock after selling 10,561 shares during the period. FirstCash makes up about 1.8% of Villanova Investment Management Co LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest holding. Villanova Investment Management Co LLC's holdings in FirstCash were worth $658,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of FirstCash by 808.0% during the 1st quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 227 shares of the company's stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 202 shares during the period. CX Institutional bought a new stake in shares of FirstCash during the 1st quarter worth approximately $42,000. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its holdings in shares of FirstCash by 167.5% during the 1st 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. CWM LLC lifted its holdings in shares of FirstCash by 92.9% during the 1st quarter. CWM LLC now owns 517 shares of the company's stock worth $62,000 after acquiring an additional 249 shares during the period. Finally, State of Wyoming bought a new stake in shares of FirstCash during the 1st quarter worth approximately $65,000. Institutional investors own 80.30% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

FirstCash Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of FirstCash stock traded down $0.26 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $146.71. The company's stock had a trading volume of 40,864 shares, compared to its average volume of 299,736. FirstCash Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $100.24 and a one year high of $150.92. The company has a market capitalization of $6.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.51 and a beta of 0.70. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $137.93 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $129.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 3.12 and a current ratio of 4.21.

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 analysts' consensus estimates of $1.66 by $0.13. FirstCash had a net margin of 8.61% and a return on equity of 16.63%. The firm had revenue of $830.62 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $820.42 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.37 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up .0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that FirstCash Holdings, Inc. will post 7.7 earnings per share for the current year.

FirstCash Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th were issued a $0.42 dividend. 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%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 15th. FirstCash's dividend payout ratio is currently 25.81%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director James H. Graves sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 owned 15,846 shares in the company, valued at $2,132,237.76. This represents a 27.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Rick L. Wessel sold 30,976 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 21st. The shares were 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 owned 901,982 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $125,673,152.06. This represents a 3.32% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 111,500 shares of company stock worth $15,493,610 over the last quarter. Insiders own 2.93% of the company's stock.

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.