Earnest Partners LLC Sells 10,636 Shares of FirstCash Holdings, Inc. $FCFS

Key Points

• Earnest Partners LLC reduced its stake in FirstCash Holdings by 0.5%, now holding 2,328,035 shares of the company, which is 1.3% of their portfolio.
• FirstCash recently announced a quarterly dividend increase from $0.38 to $0.42, reflecting a 1.1% yield with a payout ratio of 25.81%.
• Analysts have given FirstCash a consensus rating of "Buy" with an average price target of $142.33, indicating positive market sentiment for the stock.

Earnest Partners LLC decreased its position in shares of FirstCash Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:FCFS - Free Report) by 0.5% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,328,035 shares of the company's stock after selling 10,636 shares during the quarter. FirstCash makes up approximately 1.3% of Earnest Partners LLC's holdings, making the stock its 11th largest holding. Earnest Partners LLC owned about 5.25% of FirstCash worth $280,109,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of FirstCash by 808.0% in the 1st quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 227 shares of the company's stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 202 shares during the period. CX Institutional bought a new stake in shares of FirstCash in the 1st quarter valued at $42,000. UMB Bank n.a. increased its position in shares of FirstCash by 167.5% in the 1st quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 452 shares of the company's stock valued at $54,000 after buying an additional 283 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC increased its position in shares of FirstCash by 92.9% in the 1st quarter. CWM LLC now owns 517 shares of the company's stock valued at $62,000 after buying an additional 249 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP increased its position in shares of FirstCash by 986.5% in the 4th quarter. Quarry LP now owns 565 shares of the company's stock valued at $59,000 after buying an additional 513 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.30% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at FirstCash

In other news, insider Howard F. Hambleton sold 3,900 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $130.93, for a total transaction 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. This represents a 10.72% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Rick L. Wessel sold 69,024 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.49, for a total transaction of $9,559,133.76. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 932,958 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $129,205,353.42. This represents a 6.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 109,900 shares of company stock worth $15,193,007 in the last three months. Insiders own 2.93% of the company's stock.

FirstCash Stock Down 0.3%

FCFS stock traded down $0.50 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $147.27. 354,445 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 304,179. The firm's 50-day moving average is $135.10 and its 200-day moving average is $127.26. The company has a market cap of $6.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.62 and a beta of 0.68. 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 $148.94.

FirstCash (NASDAQ:FCFS - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The company reported $1.79 earnings per share (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 firm had revenue of $830.62 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $820.42 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.37 EPS. The company's revenue was up .0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that FirstCash Holdings, Inc. will post 7.7 earnings per share for the current year.

FirstCash Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th were paid a dividend of $0.42 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 15th. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. This is a positive change from FirstCash's previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. FirstCash's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 25.81%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FCFS has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Cowen restated a "buy" rating on shares of FirstCash in a research report on Monday, August 18th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of FirstCash to a "strong-buy" rating 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 report on Saturday, July 12th. Finally, Capital One Financial set a $160.00 price objective on shares of FirstCash in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and three have given a Buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, FirstCash currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $142.33.

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.