FirstCash Holdings, Inc. $FCFS Shares Bought by Algert Global LLC

Key Points

• Algert Global LLC has significantly increased its stake in FirstCash Holdings by 81.1%, holding approximately 40,993 shares valued at $4.93 million.
• FirstCash recently announced an increase in its quarterly dividend to $0.42 per share, up from the previous $0.38, with a payout ratio of 25.81%.
• The company's earnings report showed a net margin of 8.61% and earnings per share of $1.79, surpassing analysts' estimates by $0.13.

Algert Global LLC raised its position in shares of FirstCash Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:FCFS - Free Report) by 81.1% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 40,993 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 18,360 shares during the quarter. Algert Global LLC owned about 0.09% of FirstCash worth $4,932,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Earnest Partners LLC raised its position in shares of FirstCash by 2.3% in the 4th 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. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of FirstCash by 0.9% in the 4th 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. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC raised its position in shares of FirstCash by 14.5% in the 1st 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. Boston Partners raised its position in shares of FirstCash by 6.5% in the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 650,458 shares of the company's stock valued at $78,385,000 after purchasing an additional 39,537 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. raised its position in shares of FirstCash by 14.3% in the 1st quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 640,521 shares of the company's stock valued at $77,067,000 after purchasing an additional 79,930 shares during the last quarter. 80.30% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of FirstCash to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, August 18th. Cowen reissued a "buy" rating on shares of FirstCash in a research report on Monday, August 18th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of FirstCash from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, July 12th. Finally, Capital One Financial set a $160.00 price objective on shares of FirstCash in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and three have assigned a Buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $142.33.

FirstCash Price Performance

FirstCash stock traded up $5.68 during trading on Friday, reaching $144.38. The company had a trading volume of 509,774 shares, compared to its average volume of 378,572. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $133.26 and its 200 day simple moving average is $126.00. FirstCash Holdings, Inc. has a 1-year low of $100.24 and a 1-year high of $144.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.41 billion, a PE ratio of 22.18 and a beta of 0.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 3.12 and a current ratio of 4.21.

FirstCash (NASDAQ:FCFS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 24th. The company reported $1.79 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.66 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $830.62 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $820.42 million. FirstCash had a return on equity of 16.63% and a net margin of 8.61%.The firm's revenue for the quarter was up .0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.37 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that FirstCash Holdings, Inc. will post 7.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

FirstCash Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 29th. Investors of record on Friday, August 15th will be issued a $0.42 dividend. This is an increase from FirstCash's previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 15th. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.2%. FirstCash's payout ratio is presently 25.81%.

Insider Activity at FirstCash

In other FirstCash news, insider Howard F. Hambleton sold 3,900 shares of FirstCash stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company's stock, valued at $4,252,737.33. The trade was a 10.72% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Rick L. Wessel sold 30,976 shares of FirstCash stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.33, for a total value of $4,315,886.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 901,982 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $125,673,152.06. This represents a 3.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 109,900 shares of company stock worth $15,193,007. Company insiders own 2.93% of the company's stock.

FirstCash Company 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.