Royce & Associates LP Buys 26,098 Shares of FirstCash Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:FCFS)

Royce & Associates LP raised its stake in FirstCash Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:FCFS) by 29.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 114,663 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 26,098 shares during the quarter. Royce & Associates LP owned approximately 0.26% of FirstCash worth $11,879,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of FirstCash by 18.3% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,712,779 shares of the company’s stock valued at $770,627,000 after buying an additional 1,037,601 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of FirstCash in the 4th quarter valued at about $18,169,000. Erste Asset Management GmbH acquired a new position in shares of FirstCash during the 3rd quarter worth about $18,368,000. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. raised its holdings in shares of FirstCash by 28.2% in the 4th quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 560,591 shares of the company’s stock valued at $58,076,000 after purchasing an additional 123,386 shares during the period. Finally, Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its stake in FirstCash by 174.3% in the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 159,140 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,269,000 after purchasing an additional 101,130 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.30% of the company’s stock.

FirstCash Stock Performance

NASDAQ FCFS opened at $117.07 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $5.24 billion, a PE ratio of 20.43 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 3.15 and a current ratio of 4.14. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $112.89 and a 200-day moving average of $110.86. FirstCash Holdings, Inc. has a 52-week low of $100.24 and a 52-week high of $133.64.

FirstCash (NASDAQ:FCFS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The company reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.10. FirstCash had a net margin of 7.64% and a return on equity of 14.99%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that FirstCash Holdings, Inc. will post 7.7 EPS for the current year.

FirstCash Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a $0.38 dividend. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. FirstCash’s dividend payout ratio is 26.53%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder Douglas Richard Rippel sold 300,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.43, for a total transaction of $34,029,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 4,431,869 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $502,706,900.67. This trade represents a 6.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO R Douglas Orr sold 2,000 shares of FirstCash stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.35, for a total transaction of $226,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 100,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,399,269.45. The trade was a 1.95 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 14.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $137.00 price target on shares of FirstCash in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th.

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.