Russell Investments Group Ltd. Boosts Stock Holdings in FirstCash Holdings, Inc. $FCFS

Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its stake in shares of FirstCash Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:FCFS) by 3.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 32,687 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,092 shares during the quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. owned 0.07% of FirstCash worth $3,933,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in FirstCash by 1.2% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 132,236 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,911,000 after purchasing an additional 1,629 shares during 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 purchasing an additional 265 shares during the last quarter. Freedom Day Solutions LLC bought a new stake in FirstCash during the first quarter valued at approximately $1,524,000. Teacher Retirement System of Texas lifted its position in FirstCash by 18.2% during the first quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 11,522 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,386,000 after purchasing an additional 1,771 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. bought a new stake in FirstCash during the first quarter valued at approximately $334,000. 80.30% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

FirstCash Trading Up 4.1%

FCFS stock opened at $144.38 on Friday. 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 Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $100.24 and a one year high of $144.63. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $133.26 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $126.00. The company has a market capitalization of $6.41 billion, a PE ratio of 22.18 and a beta of 0.68.

FirstCash (NASDAQ:FCFS) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The company reported $1.79 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.66 by $0.13. FirstCash had a net margin of 8.61% and a return on equity of 16.63%. The company had revenue of $830.62 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $820.42 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.37 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that FirstCash Holdings, Inc. will post 7.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

FirstCash Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 29th. Investors of record on Friday, August 15th will be paid a $0.42 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 15th. This is a positive change from FirstCash’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.2%. FirstCash’s payout ratio is presently 25.81%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on FCFS. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of FirstCash to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 18th. Capital One Financial set a $160.00 price target on shares of FirstCash in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of FirstCash in a research note on Monday. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of FirstCash from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and three have assigned a Buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, FirstCash has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $142.33.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Rick L. Wessel sold 69,024 shares of FirstCash stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.49, for a total value of $9,559,133.76. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 932,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $129,205,353.42. The trade was a 6.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director James H. Graves sold 6,000 shares of FirstCash stock in a transaction on Monday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.56, for a total transaction of $807,360.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 15,846 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,132,237.76. The trade was a 27.46% 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 three months. 2.93% 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.