Affirm (NASDAQ:AFRM) Upgraded at Zacks Research

Affirm (NASDAQ:AFRM) was upgraded by equities researchers at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

AFRM has been the topic of several other reports. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Affirm in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. Mizuho lowered their price objective on shares of Affirm from $114.00 to $95.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded Affirm from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 24th. BTIG Research reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Affirm in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, Stephens decreased their target price on Affirm from $75.00 to $65.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $85.00.

Affirm Price Performance

Affirm stock opened at $45.54 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 11.41, a quick ratio of 11.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 56.22, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 3.63. The business has a 50-day moving average of $52.43 and a 200-day moving average of $66.63. Affirm has a 1 year low of $30.90 and a 1 year high of $100.00.

Affirm (NASDAQ:AFRM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The company reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $1.12 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.06 billion. Affirm had a net margin of 7.60% and a return on equity of 8.83%. Affirm’s revenue for the quarter was up 29.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.23 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Affirm will post -0.18 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Max R. Levchin sold 666,666 shares of Affirm stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.62, for a total value of $53,746,612.92. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Robert O’hare sold 36,401 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total transaction of $2,912,080.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 1,368 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $109,440. This trade represents a 96.38% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Company insiders own 11.01% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Affirm

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Affirm in the fourth quarter worth $281,961,000. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in Affirm by 294.2% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,333,691 shares of the company’s stock valued at $316,706,000 after acquiring an additional 3,234,260 shares during the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its stake in Affirm by 11,042.3% during the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 2,161,278 shares of the company’s stock worth $157,004,000 after acquiring an additional 2,141,881 shares in the last quarter. Atreides Management LP lifted its holdings in shares of Affirm by 543.3% in the second quarter. Atreides Management LP now owns 1,977,882 shares of the company’s stock worth $136,751,000 after acquiring an additional 1,670,429 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Affirm by 26.7% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,641,965 shares of the company’s stock worth $412,315,000 after acquiring an additional 1,187,665 shares during the last quarter. 69.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Affirm Company Profile

Affirm Holdings, Inc is a financial technology company that provides point-of-sale consumer lending and payments solutions for online and in-store purchases. Its core product is a buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) platform that enables consumers to split purchases into fixed, transparent installment loans with no hidden fees. Affirm offers a range of financing options through merchant integrations, a consumer-facing mobile app and virtual card capabilities, and tools for merchants to offer alternative payment methods at checkout.