Legal & General Group Plc Makes New $12.62 Million Investment in FirstCash Holdings, Inc. $FCFS

Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new position in shares of FirstCash Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:FCFS) in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund acquired 58,322 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,616,000.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in FirstCash during the second quarter worth $1,088,429,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in FirstCash by 36.4% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,169,281 shares of the company’s stock valued at $186,361,000 after purchasing an additional 312,132 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of FirstCash by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,043,699 shares of the company’s stock valued at $166,367,000 after purchasing an additional 31,550 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of FirstCash by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,009,170 shares of the company’s stock valued at $160,850,000 after purchasing an additional 5,626 shares during the period. Finally, Sei Investments Co. boosted its position in shares of FirstCash by 2.2% during the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 794,005 shares of the company’s stock worth $149,273,000 after purchasing an additional 17,177 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.30% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FCFS has been the subject of several research reports. Loop Capital upgraded FirstCash from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $255.00 target price for the company in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Zacks Research downgraded FirstCash from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 23rd. Weiss Ratings lowered FirstCash from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Friday, August 21st. Wall Street Zen cut FirstCash from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, May 10th. Finally, TD Cowen boosted 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. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, FirstCash has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $249.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Thomas Brent Stuart sold 5,348 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $214.63, for a total value of $1,147,841.24. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 135,498 shares in the company, valued at $29,081,935.74. This trade represents a 3.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO R Douglas Orr sold 2,000 shares of FirstCash stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $216.00, for a total value of $432,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 34,734 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,502,544. The trade was a 5.44% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 17,183 shares of company stock worth $3,761,228 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 2.86% of the company’s stock.

FirstCash Stock Down 2.2%

FirstCash stock opened at $214.47 on Tuesday. FirstCash Holdings, Inc. has a 1-year low of $144.56 and a 1-year high of $238.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.48 and a beta of 0.53. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $213.93 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $209.10. The company has a current ratio of 4.89, a quick ratio of 3.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01.

FirstCash (NASDAQ:FCFS) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The company reported $2.50 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.39 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $1.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.03 billion. FirstCash had a net margin of 9.42% and a return on equity of 19.65%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 29.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.34 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that FirstCash Holdings, Inc. will post 11.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

FirstCash Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 14th were paid a dividend of $0.42 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 14th. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. FirstCash’s payout ratio is 19.18%.

About FirstCash

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.