Granite Investment Partners LLC Trims Position in FirstCash Holdings, Inc. $FCFS

Granite Investment Partners LLC cut its position in shares of FirstCash Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:FCFS) by 45.5% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 91,786 shares of the company’s stock after selling 76,619 shares during the quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in FirstCash were worth $12,404,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd acquired a new position in shares of FirstCash in the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. IFP Advisors Inc boosted its stake in shares of FirstCash by 181.6% in the second quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 290 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 187 shares during the period. CX Institutional grew its stake in shares of FirstCash by 24.7% in the second quarter. CX Institutional now owns 434 shares of the company’s stock worth $59,000 after acquiring an additional 86 shares in the last quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd grew its stake in FirstCash by 169.9% during the 2nd quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd now owns 448 shares of the company’s stock worth $61,000 after purchasing an additional 282 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State of Wyoming acquired a new position in shares of FirstCash during the first quarter worth about $65,000. 80.30% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

FirstCash Stock Up 0.6%

FCFS stock opened at $159.40 on Tuesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $155.74 and its 200-day simple moving average is $142.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.03 billion, a PE ratio of 24.48 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 4.21 and a quick ratio of 3.12. FirstCash Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $100.24 and a 12 month high of $166.08.

FirstCash (NASDAQ:FCFS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The company reported $2.26 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.91 by $0.35. The company had revenue of $904.27 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $845.28 million. FirstCash had a return on equity of 16.63% and a net margin of 8.61%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.67 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that FirstCash Holdings, Inc. will post 7.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

FirstCash Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 26th. Investors of record on Friday, November 14th were paid a dividend of $0.42 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 14th. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.1%. FirstCash’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.24%.

FirstCash announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, October 30th that allows the company to repurchase $150.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 2.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on FCFS. Loop Capital downgraded shares of FirstCash from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $145.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Friday, September 5th. Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of FirstCash in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Capital One Financial set a $160.00 price target on FirstCash in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of FirstCash to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 18th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group increased their target price on FirstCash from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, FirstCash presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $167.00.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Thomas Brent Stuart sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.97, for a total transaction of $1,599,700.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 127,724 shares in the company, valued at $20,432,008.28. This trade represents a 7.26% 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 link. Also, Director Randel G. Owen sold 1,500 shares of FirstCash stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $152.20, for a total value of $228,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 7,651 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,164,482.20. This represents a 16.39% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 44,500 shares of company stock worth $7,023,548 in the last three months. 2.93% of the stock is owned by insiders.

FirstCash 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.