Heartland Advisors Inc. Buys Shares of 44,877 FirstCash Holdings, Inc. $FCFS

Heartland Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in FirstCash Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:FCFS) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 44,877 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,708,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Villanova Investment Management Co LLC raised its position in shares of FirstCash by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Villanova Investment Management Co LLC now owns 12,783 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,037,000 after buying an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC grew its position in FirstCash by 29.6% in the first quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 245 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Arista Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in FirstCash by 1.4% in the second quarter. Arista Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,193 shares of the company’s stock valued at $907,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System increased its stake in FirstCash by 1.1% in the first quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 9,315 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,751,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assetmark Inc. raised its position in FirstCash by 113.2% during the first quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 194 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.30% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other FirstCash news, insider Howard F. Hambleton sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $212.98, for a total value of $425,960.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 30,406 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,475,869.88. This represents a 6.17% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, COO Thomas Brent Stuart sold 5,348 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $214.63, for a total transaction of $1,147,841.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 135,498 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,081,935.74. This trade represents a 3.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last three months, insiders sold 20,348 shares of company stock worth $4,492,755. Insiders own 2.86% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on FCFS shares. Wall Street Zen lowered FirstCash from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, May 10th. Loop Capital raised FirstCash from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $255.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, August 10th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on FirstCash from $235.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their target price on FirstCash from $242.00 to $252.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of FirstCash from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $249.00.

FirstCash Trading Up 9.4%

FCFS opened at $225.28 on Friday. FirstCash Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $138.34 and a one year high of $235.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 4.89 and a quick ratio of 3.51. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $214.07 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $206.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.72 and a beta of 0.53.

FirstCash (NASDAQ:FCFS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The company reported $2.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.39 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $1.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.03 billion. FirstCash had a return on equity of 19.65% and a net margin of 9.42%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 29.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.34 EPS. Analysts predict that FirstCash Holdings, Inc. will post 11.85 EPS for the current year.

FirstCash Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 28th. Investors of record on Friday, August 14th will be paid a $0.42 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 14th. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. FirstCash’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 19.18%.

FirstCash Profile

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.