Heartland Advisors Inc. Cuts Position in FirstCash Holdings, Inc. $FCFS

Heartland Advisors Inc. lessened its position in FirstCash Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:FCFS) by 10.1% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 47,446 shares of the company’s stock after selling 5,322 shares during the period. Heartland Advisors Inc.’s holdings in FirstCash were worth $8,920,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in FCFS. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in FirstCash by 133.8% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 562,104 shares of the company’s stock worth $89,588,000 after purchasing an additional 321,663 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in shares of FirstCash by 36.4% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,169,281 shares of the company’s stock valued at $186,361,000 after purchasing an additional 312,132 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of FirstCash by 67.6% during the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 623,059 shares of the company’s stock valued at $97,503,000 after purchasing an additional 251,305 shares during the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its holdings in shares of FirstCash by 280.5% during the 3rd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 305,856 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,454,000 after buying an additional 225,466 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Candriam S.C.A. purchased a new position in shares of FirstCash during the 1st quarter valued at about $28,371,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.30% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on FCFS. Zacks Research lowered FirstCash from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 23rd. Wall Street Zen cut shares of FirstCash from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, May 10th. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price objective on shares of FirstCash from $242.00 to $252.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of FirstCash from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Finally, TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of FirstCash from $235.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, FirstCash currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $199.25.

Insider Transactions at FirstCash

In other news, insider Howard F. Hambleton sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.41, for a total transaction of $679,230.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 32,406 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,337,042.46. This represents a 8.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Paula K. Garrett sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $217.40, for a total value of $326,100.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 6,564 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,427,013.60. This trade represents a 18.60% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 27,500 shares of company stock valued at $6,243,104. Insiders own 2.86% of the company’s stock.

FirstCash Stock Down 1.3%

FCFS opened at $213.61 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $9.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.77 and a beta of 0.53. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $221.93 and its 200-day moving average price is $199.51. The company has a current ratio of 4.77, a quick ratio of 3.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98. FirstCash Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $119.21 and a 12 month high of $235.97.

FirstCash (NASDAQ:FCFS) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The company reported $2.69 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.30 by $0.39. The company had revenue of $1.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1 billion. FirstCash had a return on equity of 18.68% and a net margin of 9.15%.FirstCash’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.07 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that FirstCash Holdings, Inc. will post 11.33 EPS for the current year.

FirstCash Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 15th were paid a $0.42 dividend. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 15th. FirstCash’s payout ratio is 21.05%.

About FirstCash

FirstCash, Inc (NASDAQ: FCFS) is a leading integrated operator of pawn stores and provider of short-term consumer loan services in the United States and Mexico. Through its retail pawn outlets, FirstCash offers collateral-based loans secured by personal property, enabling customers to access liquidity without a credit history or traditional bank account. The company also purchases, trades and sells a broad range of secondhand merchandise, including electronics, jewelry and power tools, through its network of conveniently located stores.

In addition to its pawn-broking activities, FirstCash provides unsecured consumer loans designed to meet urgent cash needs.