Heartland Advisors Inc. Takes $1.11 Million Position in FirstCash Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:FCFS)

Heartland Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of FirstCash Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:FCFS - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 10,733 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,112,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of FCFS. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of FirstCash by 18.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,712,779 shares of the company's stock worth $770,627,000 after buying an additional 1,037,601 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in FirstCash by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,112,978 shares of the company's stock worth $426,105,000 after acquiring an additional 22,009 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of FirstCash by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,386,726 shares of the company's stock worth $159,196,000 after acquiring an additional 28,415 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. boosted its stake in shares of FirstCash by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 648,582 shares of the company's stock worth $67,193,000 after buying an additional 33,040 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. raised its position in shares of FirstCash by 28.2% in the fourth 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.30% of the company's stock.

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Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, major shareholder Douglas Richard Rippel sold 300,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.43, for a total transaction of $34,029,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 4,431,869 shares of the company's stock, valued at $502,706,900.67. This trade represents a 6.34 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO R Douglas Orr sold 2,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was 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 approximately $11,399,269.45. The trade was a 1.95 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 14.77% of the company's stock.

FirstCash Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:FCFS traded up $0.39 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $121.44. The stock had a trading volume of 97,253 shares, compared to its average volume of 256,810. The company's 50-day moving average price is $114.90 and its 200-day moving average price is $110.95. FirstCash Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $100.24 and a fifty-two week high of $133.64. The company has a quick ratio of 3.15, a current ratio of 4.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84. The company has a market capitalization of $5.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.19 and a beta of 0.63.

FirstCash (NASDAQ:FCFS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The company reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, beating 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%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that FirstCash Holdings, Inc. will post 7.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

FirstCash Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were given a $0.38 dividend. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. FirstCash's dividend payout ratio is presently 26.53%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

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.