Blue Trust Inc. Buys 163 Shares of FirstCash Holdings, Inc. $FCFS

Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in FirstCash Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:FCFS) by 4.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,463 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 163 shares during the quarter. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in FirstCash were worth $468,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings 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 valued at $15,911,000 after buying an additional 1,629 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in FirstCash by 8.4% during the first quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 3,429 shares of the company’s stock valued at $413,000 after acquiring an additional 265 shares during the last quarter. Freedom Day Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in FirstCash during the first quarter valued at approximately $1,524,000. FORA Capital LLC acquired a new stake in FirstCash in the first quarter valued at approximately $283,000. Finally, Teacher Retirement System of Texas grew its holdings in FirstCash by 18.2% in the first quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 11,522 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,386,000 after purchasing an additional 1,771 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.30% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at FirstCash

In related news, CFO R Douglas Orr sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.40, for a total transaction of $366,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 41,734 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,109,857.60. This trade represents a 5.65% 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 business’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer 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. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 111,500 shares of company stock worth $15,493,610. Company insiders own 14.77% of the company’s stock.

FirstCash Stock Performance

Shares of FCFS opened at $150.71 on Monday. 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 stock has a 50-day moving average of $146.07 and a two-hundred day moving average of $134.58. The stock has a market cap of $6.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.15 and a beta of 0.69. FirstCash Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $100.24 and a one year high of $158.93.

FirstCash (NASDAQ:FCFS) last announced 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 return on equity of 16.63% and a net margin of 8.61%.The business had revenue of $830.62 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $820.42 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.37 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up .0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that FirstCash Holdings, Inc. will post 7.7 EPS for the current year.

FirstCash Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 15th were given a dividend of $0.42 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 15th. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.1%. This is a boost from FirstCash’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. FirstCash’s payout ratio is 25.81%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on FCFS shares. Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of FirstCash in a research report on Monday, August 18th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of FirstCash in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Jefferies Financial Group raised FirstCash to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 18th. Capital One Financial set a $160.00 price target on FirstCash in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $200.00 price objective on shares of FirstCash in a report on Monday, October 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, FirstCash presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $154.40.

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.