First Trust Advisors LP Trims Position in FirstCash Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:FCFS)

First Trust Advisors LP lessened its stake in shares of FirstCash Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:FCFS - Free Report) by 36.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 22,283 shares of the company's stock after selling 13,042 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP's holdings in FirstCash were worth $2,309,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of FCFS. Rialto Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in FirstCash in the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp grew its stake in FirstCash by 38.8% in the 4th quarter. J.Safra Asset Management Corp now owns 454 shares of the company's stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 127 shares in the last quarter. Hurley Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of FirstCash during the fourth quarter worth approximately $74,000. R Squared Ltd purchased a new position in shares of FirstCash during the fourth quarter worth approximately $92,000. Finally, Parkside Financial Bank & Trust raised its stake in shares of FirstCash by 7.4% during the fourth quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 1,370 shares of the company's stock valued at $142,000 after acquiring an additional 94 shares in the last quarter. 80.30% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

FirstCash Stock Down 0.6 %

NASDAQ FCFS traded down $0.76 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $133.44. 282,751 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 273,403. The company has a market cap of $5.92 billion, a PE ratio of 23.29 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 4.14 and a quick ratio of 3.15. FirstCash Holdings, Inc. has a 52 week low of $100.24 and a 52 week high of $135.57. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $121.52 and its 200-day simple moving average is $113.08.

FirstCash (NASDAQ:FCFS - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $2.07 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.75 by $0.32. FirstCash had a net margin of 7.64% and a return on equity of 14.99%. The company had revenue of $836.42 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $837.11 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.55 earnings per share. FirstCash'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 year.

FirstCash Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be given a dividend of $0.38 per share. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. FirstCash's dividend payout ratio is presently 24.32%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on FCFS. StockNews.com upgraded FirstCash from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Stephens restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $137.00 price objective on shares of FirstCash in a report on Wednesday, February 19th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, major shareholder Douglas Richard Rippel sold 300,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 4,431,869 shares of the company's stock, valued at $502,706,900.67. This represents a 6.34 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 14.77% 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.