MetLife Investment Management LLC Raises Holdings in FirstCash Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:FCFS)

MetLife Investment Management LLC increased its position in FirstCash Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:FCFS - Free Report) by 8.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 44,605 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 3,316 shares during the period. MetLife Investment Management LLC owned approximately 0.10% of FirstCash worth $4,621,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of FCFS. Fiduciary Management Inc. WI increased its stake in shares of FirstCash by 76.1% during the 4th quarter. Fiduciary Management Inc. WI now owns 1,303,533 shares of the company's stock worth $135,046,000 after purchasing an additional 563,265 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of FirstCash during the fourth quarter worth about $18,169,000. Marshall Wace LLP raised its position in shares of FirstCash by 5,338.6% during the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 137,597 shares of the company's stock valued at $14,255,000 after buying an additional 135,067 shares in the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. lifted its stake in FirstCash by 28.2% during the fourth quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 560,591 shares of the company's stock worth $58,076,000 after purchasing an additional 123,386 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in FirstCash by 67.6% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 268,732 shares of the company's stock worth $27,841,000 after buying an additional 108,353 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.30% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO R Douglas Orr sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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. This represents a 1.95 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Douglas Richard Rippel sold 300,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at approximately $502,706,900.67. The trade was a 6.34 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 14.77% of the company's stock.

FirstCash Stock Performance

FirstCash stock traded up $0.73 during trading on Monday, reaching $132.68. The company had a trading volume of 641,559 shares, compared to its average volume of 271,086. FirstCash Holdings, Inc. has a 52 week low of $100.24 and a 52 week high of $134.15. The company has a current ratio of 4.14, a quick ratio of 3.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.16 and a beta of 0.58. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $118.29 and its 200 day simple moving average is $111.95.

FirstCash (NASDAQ:FCFS - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $2.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.75 by $0.32. The firm had revenue of $836.42 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $837.11 million. FirstCash had a net margin of 7.64% and a return on equity of 14.99%. The business's revenue was up .0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.55 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that FirstCash Holdings, Inc. will post 7.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

FirstCash Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be given a $0.38 dividend. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.15%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. FirstCash's payout ratio is currently 26.53%.

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.