Legato Capital Management LLC Purchases Shares of 2,555 FirstCash Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:FCFS)

Key Points

• Legato Capital Management LLC purchased 2,555 shares of FirstCash Holdings, Inc. valued at approximately $307,000, indicating ongoing interest from institutional investors.
• FirstCash recently increased its quarterly dividend to $0.42 per share, compared to the previous $0.38, reflecting a strong financial position with a payout ratio of 23.35%.
• The company reported a quarterly earnings per share of $1.79, surpassing analysts' expectations by $0.13, alongside revenue of $830.62 million for the quarter.

Legato Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in FirstCash Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:FCFS - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 2,555 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $307,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in FirstCash by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,112,978 shares of the company's stock valued at $426,105,000 after purchasing an additional 22,009 shares during the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC boosted its holdings in FirstCash by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 2,338,671 shares of the company's stock valued at $242,286,000 after purchasing an additional 52,409 shares during the last quarter. Fiduciary Management Inc. WI boosted its holdings in FirstCash by 76.1% in the fourth 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 last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in FirstCash by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,043,531 shares of the company's stock valued at $108,107,000 after purchasing an additional 9,264 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stephens Investment Management Group LLC boosted its holdings in FirstCash by 14.5% in the first quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC now owns 888,834 shares of the company's stock valued at $106,945,000 after purchasing an additional 112,349 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.30% of the company's stock.

FirstCash Stock Up 0.5%

NASDAQ:FCFS traded up $0.61 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $120.69. The stock had a trading volume of 51,565 shares, compared to its average volume of 295,296. The company has a market capitalization of $5.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.54 and a beta of 0.62. FirstCash Holdings, Inc. has a 1-year low of $100.24 and a 1-year high of $138.42. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $130.26 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $122.99. 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 (NASDAQ:FCFS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The company reported $1.79 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.66 by $0.13. FirstCash had a return on equity of 16.63% and a net margin of 8.61%. The business had revenue of $830.62 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $820.42 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.37 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up .0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that FirstCash Holdings, Inc. will post 7.7 EPS for the current year.

FirstCash Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be paid a $0.42 dividend. This is an increase from FirstCash's previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.39%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 15th. FirstCash's payout ratio is presently 25.81%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other FirstCash news, insider Howard F. Hambleton sold 3,900 shares of FirstCash stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $130.93, for a total value of $510,627.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 32,481 shares in the company, valued at $4,252,737.33. The trade was a 10.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 2.93% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Wall Street Zen downgraded FirstCash from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, July 12th.

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.