D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. Purchases 228,784 Shares of FirstCash Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:FCFS)

D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. grew its holdings in shares of FirstCash Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:FCFS - Free Report) by 349.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 294,281 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 228,784 shares during the period. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. owned about 0.66% of FirstCash worth $30,488,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in FCFS. Barclays PLC grew its position in shares of FirstCash by 163.8% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 81,807 shares of the company's stock worth $9,391,000 after purchasing an additional 50,799 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its position in shares of FirstCash by 15.2% during the 4th quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 3,129 shares of the company's stock worth $359,000 after purchasing an additional 412 shares in the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC grew its position in shares of FirstCash by 15.5% during the 4th quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 2,039 shares of the company's stock worth $211,000 after purchasing an additional 273 shares in the last quarter. Sendero Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of FirstCash by 77.0% during the 4th quarter. Sendero Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,394 shares of the company's stock worth $662,000 after purchasing an additional 2,781 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Integrated Investment Consultants LLC boosted its position in shares of FirstCash by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC now owns 4,595 shares of the company's stock worth $476,000 after acquiring an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.30% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

FirstCash Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of NASDAQ:FCFS traded down $0.22 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $126.90. 110,325 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 302,541. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.16 and a beta of 0.63. The business's fifty day moving average price is $123.58 and its 200-day moving average price is $114.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 3.15 and a current ratio of 4.14. FirstCash Holdings, Inc. has a twelve month low of $100.24 and a twelve month high of $135.57.

FirstCash (NASDAQ:FCFS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $2.07 EPS 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 company had revenue of $836.42 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $837.11 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.55 earnings per share. FirstCash's revenue was up .0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that FirstCash Holdings, Inc. will post 7.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

FirstCash Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.38 per share. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.20%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. FirstCash's dividend payout ratio is presently 24.32%.

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.