Scotiabank Begins Coverage on Affirm (NASDAQ:AFRM)

Equities research analysts at Scotiabank initiated coverage on shares of Affirm (NASDAQ:AFRM) in a research note issued on Wednesday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The brokerage set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock.

AFRM has been the topic of several other research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their target price on Affirm from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday. Compass Point set a $100.00 price target on Affirm in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Affirm from $70.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Affirm from $86.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 28th. Finally, Mizuho lifted their target price on Affirm from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 14th. Twenty-three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Affirm presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $99.20.

Affirm Stock Down 6.1%

Shares of AFRM stock opened at $69.94 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.82, a quick ratio of 11.80 and a current ratio of 11.80. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $77.45 and its 200-day moving average is $64.84. The stock has a market cap of $23.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.67, a PEG ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 3.61. Affirm has a 52-week low of $42.10 and a 52-week high of $93.20.

Affirm (NASDAQ:AFRM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 27th. The company reported $4.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35 by $4.27. Affirm had a return on equity of 47.91% and a net margin of 45.29%.The company had revenue of $1.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.11 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.20 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 33.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Affirm will post 1.8 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Affirm news, COO Michael Linford sold 100,000 shares of Affirm stock in a transaction on Friday, June 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.04, for a total value of $8,004,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 117,984 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,443,439.36. The trade was a 45.87% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 11.01% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. California State Teachers Retirement System grew its stake in Affirm by 7,715.3% during the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 29,932,275 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,440,977,000 after buying an additional 29,549,277 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Affirm during the 4th quarter worth approximately $281,961,000. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Affirm by 294.2% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,333,691 shares of the company’s stock worth $316,706,000 after acquiring an additional 3,234,260 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its position in shares of Affirm by 11,042.3% during the 4th 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. Finally, Atreides Management LP increased its stake in Affirm by 543.3% in the second quarter. Atreides Management LP now owns 1,977,882 shares of the company’s stock valued at $136,751,000 after acquiring an additional 1,670,429 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.29% of the company’s stock.

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.