Handelsbanken Fonder AB Acquires 2,400 Shares of FirstCash Holdings, Inc. $FCFS

Handelsbanken Fonder AB grew its holdings in FirstCash Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:FCFS) by 25.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 12,016 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,400 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in FirstCash were worth $1,915,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of FirstCash by 96.0% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 240,441 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,091,000 after purchasing an additional 117,788 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of FirstCash by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,096,956 shares of the company’s stock valued at $649,040,000 after purchasing an additional 83,113 shares during the last quarter. Coastal Bridge Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of FirstCash in the 3rd quarter valued at $1,361,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of FirstCash by 76.3% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 534,571 shares of the company’s stock valued at $84,687,000 after purchasing an additional 231,379 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mirabella Financial Services LLP bought a new position in shares of FirstCash in the 3rd quarter valued at $3,463,000. Institutional investors own 80.30% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on FCFS. TD Cowen lifted their price target on FirstCash from $205.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Zacks Research upgraded FirstCash from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Weiss Ratings lowered FirstCash from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Wall Street Zen lowered FirstCash from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, May 10th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price objective on FirstCash from $242.00 to $252.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $198.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other FirstCash news, CFO R Douglas Orr sold 2,000 shares of FirstCash stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $227.29, for a total transaction of $454,580.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 35,734 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,121,980.86. The trade was a 5.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, COO Thomas Brent Stuart sold 10,000 shares of FirstCash stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.49, for a total value of $2,284,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 140,846 shares in the company, valued at $32,181,902.54. The trade was a 6.63% 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. Insiders sold a total of 17,500 shares of company stock valued at $3,972,130 over the last 90 days. 2.86% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

FirstCash Stock Performance

Shares of FCFS stock opened at $227.59 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.52 and a beta of 0.52. FirstCash Holdings, Inc. has a twelve month low of $119.21 and a twelve month high of $235.97. The company has a quick ratio of 3.42, a current ratio of 4.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $207.32 and its 200 day simple moving average is $182.54.

FirstCash (NASDAQ:FCFS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 23rd. The company reported $2.69 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.30 by $0.39. The business had revenue of $1.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1 billion. FirstCash had a return on equity of 18.68% and a net margin of 9.15%.FirstCash’s quarterly revenue was up 25.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.07 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that FirstCash Holdings, Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

FirstCash Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.42 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 15th. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. FirstCash’s payout ratio is presently 21.05%.

FirstCash Company 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.