Bridgewater Associates LP Sells 11,041 Shares of FirstCash Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:FCFS)

Bridgewater Associates LP decreased its position in shares of FirstCash Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:FCFS - Free Report) by 65.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,750 shares of the company's stock after selling 11,041 shares during the period. Bridgewater Associates LP's holdings in FirstCash were worth $596,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust boosted its stake in FirstCash by 7.4% in the fourth quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 1,370 shares of the company's stock worth $142,000 after buying an additional 94 shares in the last quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC grew its holdings 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 valued at $476,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia raised its position in FirstCash by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 3,403 shares of the company's stock worth $353,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares during the period. Sanctuary Advisors LLC lifted its stake in FirstCash by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 7,347 shares of the company's stock worth $826,000 after purchasing an additional 127 shares during the last quarter. Finally, J.Safra Asset Management Corp grew its stake in shares of FirstCash by 38.8% during the fourth quarter. J.Safra Asset Management Corp now owns 454 shares of the company's stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 127 shares during the last quarter. 80.30% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Stephens reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $137.00 price target on shares of FirstCash in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th.

FirstCash Trading Up 9.1 %

Shares of FCFS stock traded up $11.01 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $131.72. The stock had a trading volume of 823,117 shares, compared to its average volume of 273,919. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.90 billion, a PE ratio of 22.99 and a beta of 0.58. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $117.71 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $111.71. The company has a current ratio of 4.14, a quick ratio of 3.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84. FirstCash Holdings, Inc. has a 52-week low of $100.24 and a 52-week high of $133.82.

FirstCash (NASDAQ:FCFS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $2.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.75 by $0.32. FirstCash had a return on equity of 14.99% and a net margin of 7.64%. The company had revenue of $836.42 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $837.11 million. Equities analysts expect that FirstCash Holdings, Inc. will post 7.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

FirstCash Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a $0.38 dividend. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.15%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. FirstCash's payout ratio is 26.53%.

Insider Activity at FirstCash

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

About FirstCash

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.