KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS Purchases 400 Shares of FirstCash Holdings, Inc. $FCFS

KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS raised its stake in FirstCash Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:FCFS) by 5.0% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 8,400 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the period. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS’s holdings in FirstCash were worth $1,135,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its holdings in FirstCash by 808.0% in the 1st quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 227 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 202 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in FirstCash by 117.1% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,158 shares of the company’s stock valued at $260,000 after buying an additional 1,164 shares during the period. CX Institutional bought a new stake in FirstCash in the 1st quarter valued at $42,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in FirstCash by 8.4% in the 1st quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 3,429 shares of the company’s stock valued at $413,000 after buying an additional 265 shares during the period. Finally, Mission Wealth Management LP bought a new stake in FirstCash in the 1st quarter valued at $217,000. 80.30% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at FirstCash

In other FirstCash news, Director James H. Graves sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.56, for a total transaction of $807,360.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 15,846 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,132,237.76. This represents a 27.46% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Rick L. Wessel sold 69,024 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.49, for a total transaction of $9,559,133.76. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 932,958 shares in the company, valued at approximately $129,205,353.42. The trade was a 6.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 111,500 shares of company stock worth $15,493,610. Company insiders own 14.77% of the company’s stock.

FirstCash Stock Up 3.4%

Shares of NASDAQ FCFS opened at $158.93 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $146.96 and its 200 day simple moving average is $134.99. The company has a market cap of $7.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.41 and a beta of 0.69. The company has a quick ratio of 3.12, a current ratio of 4.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. FirstCash Holdings, Inc. has a 12-month low of $100.24 and a 12-month high of $159.00.

FirstCash (NASDAQ:FCFS) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The company reported $1.79 earnings per share (EPS) 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 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 prior year, the company posted $1.37 EPS. The company’s revenue was up .0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that FirstCash Holdings, Inc. will post 7.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

FirstCash Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 15th. This is a boost from FirstCash’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. FirstCash’s dividend payout ratio is currently 25.81%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of FirstCash in a report on Monday, August 18th. Canaccord Genuity Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $200.00 target price on shares of FirstCash in a research note on Monday, October 6th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of FirstCash from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 4th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of FirstCash to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 18th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of FirstCash in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target 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.