Affirm (NASDAQ:AFRM) Rating Increased to Strong-Buy at Sanford C. Bernstein

Affirm (NASDAQ:AFRM) was upgraded by investment analysts at Sanford C. Bernstein to a “strong-buy” rating in a report released on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other equities analysts have also issued reports on the company. Needham & Company LLC raised their price target on Affirm from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Affirm from $70.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their target price on shares of Affirm from $80.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Citigroup boosted their target price on Affirm from $100.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $79.00 price target on shares of Affirm and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Sunday, May 10th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have issued a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $92.63.

Affirm Price Performance

NASDAQ AFRM opened at $73.92 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $24.76 billion, a PE ratio of 67.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 3.67. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $73.76 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $63.74. Affirm has a 52 week low of $42.10 and a 52 week high of $100.00. The company has a quick ratio of 11.32, a current ratio of 11.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.39.

Affirm (NASDAQ:AFRM) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.17 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $943.95 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $995.27 million. Affirm had a net margin of 9.63% and a return on equity of 11.17%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 32.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.01 EPS. Research analysts predict that Affirm will post 1.23 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Affirm news, Director Noel Bertram Watson sold 2,000 shares of Affirm stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.00, for a total transaction of $130,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 36,076 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,344,940. The trade was a 5.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, COO Michael Linford sold 100,000 shares of Affirm stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.04, for a total transaction of $8,004,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 117,984 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,443,439.36. This represents a 45.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Company insiders own 11.01% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Affirm

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AFRM. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Affirm by 83.4% in the fourth quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 48,504 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,610,000 after buying an additional 22,054 shares during the period. Capelight Capital Asset Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Affirm in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $4,912,000. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Affirm by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,501,387 shares of the company’s stock valued at $408,433,000 after purchasing an additional 329,312 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Affirm by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,847,206 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,849,378,000 after purchasing an additional 428,138 shares in the last quarter. Finally, J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG bought a new stake in shares of Affirm in the fourth quarter worth $2,861,000. 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.