Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Acquires New Stake in FirstCash Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:FCFS)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new stake in FirstCash Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:FCFS) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 10,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,127,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Pinkerton Retirement Specialists LLC acquired a new stake in FirstCash in the 4th quarter valued at $603,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of FirstCash by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 17,116 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,855,000 after purchasing an additional 451 shares during the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale acquired a new position in shares of FirstCash during the 4th quarter worth about $665,000. State of Michigan Retirement System increased its stake in shares of FirstCash by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 8,915 shares of the company’s stock worth $966,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp increased its stake in shares of FirstCash by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 16,435 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,781,000 after purchasing an additional 748 shares during the last quarter. 80.30% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on FCFS. TD Cowen upgraded shares of FirstCash from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $130.00 to $145.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Stephens boosted their price objective on shares of FirstCash from $131.00 to $141.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd.

FirstCash Stock Performance

NASDAQ FCFS opened at $132.50 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.96, a current ratio of 3.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. The company has a market capitalization of $5.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.60 and a beta of 0.62. FirstCash Holdings, Inc. has a 12-month low of $88.05 and a 12-month high of $133.46. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $122.05 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $114.43.

FirstCash (NASDAQ:FCFS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The company reported $2.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.79 by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $852.13 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $859.23 million. FirstCash had a net margin of 6.96% and a return on equity of 14.42%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.65 EPS. Analysts anticipate that FirstCash Holdings, Inc. will post 6.93 earnings per share for the current year.

FirstCash Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 14th were issued a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.06%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 13th. FirstCash’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.17%.

Insider Buying and Selling at FirstCash

In other news, Director Douglas Richard Rippel sold 31,930 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.68, for a total transaction of $3,821,382.40. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 5,767,238 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $690,223,043.84. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, CFO R Douglas Orr sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $116.25, for a total value of $348,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 94,715 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,010,618.75. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Douglas Richard Rippel sold 31,930 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.68, for a total transaction of $3,821,382.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,767,238 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $690,223,043.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 329,984 shares of company stock valued at $38,850,386 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 18.08% 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.