Earnest Partners LLC Acquires 52,409 Shares of FirstCash Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:FCFS)

Earnest Partners LLC boosted its stake in FirstCash Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:FCFS - Free Report) by 2.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,338,671 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 52,409 shares during the period. FirstCash comprises 1.1% of Earnest Partners LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest position. Earnest Partners LLC owned 5.22% of FirstCash worth $242,286,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in FirstCash by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,112,978 shares of the company's stock worth $426,105,000 after buying an additional 22,009 shares during the period. Fiduciary Management Inc. WI increased its position in FirstCash by 76.1% during the 4th quarter. Fiduciary Management Inc. WI now owns 1,303,533 shares of the company's stock valued at $135,046,000 after purchasing an additional 563,265 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in FirstCash by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,043,531 shares of the company's stock worth $108,107,000 after purchasing an additional 9,264 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. lifted its position in shares of FirstCash by 5.4% in the 4th quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 648,582 shares of the company's stock worth $67,193,000 after purchasing an additional 33,040 shares during the period. Finally, Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. boosted its stake in shares of FirstCash by 28.2% during the 4th quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 560,591 shares of the company's stock valued at $58,076,000 after purchasing an additional 123,386 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.30% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO R Douglas Orr sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.35, for a total value of $226,700.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 100,567 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $11,399,269.45. This represents a 1.95 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, major shareholder Douglas Richard Rippel sold 300,000 shares of FirstCash stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.43, for a total value of $34,029,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 4,431,869 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $502,706,900.67. This represents a 6.34 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 14.77% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

FirstCash Stock Up 0.8 %

FCFS stock traded up $1.03 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $133.68. The stock had a trading volume of 120,033 shares, compared to its average volume of 271,272. The business has a 50-day moving average of $119.76 and a two-hundred day moving average of $112.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 4.14 and a quick ratio of 3.15. The firm has a market cap of $5.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.34 and a beta of 0.58. FirstCash Holdings, Inc. has a 52-week low of $100.24 and a 52-week high of $140.55.

FirstCash (NASDAQ:FCFS - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $2.07 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.75 by $0.32. FirstCash had a net margin of 7.64% and a return on equity of 14.99%. The firm had revenue of $836.42 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $837.11 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.55 EPS. The company's revenue was up .0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that FirstCash Holdings, Inc. will post 7.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

FirstCash Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be given a $0.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.14%. FirstCash's dividend payout ratio is currently 24.32%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Stephens restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $137.00 price objective on shares of FirstCash in a report on Wednesday, February 19th.

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.