Affirm Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:AFRM) Sees Significant Drop in Short Interest

Affirm Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:AFRM) saw a large drop in short interest during the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 18,340,000 shares, a drop of 5.3% from the October 15th total of 19,370,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 10,770,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.7 days. Approximately 7.2% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on AFRM. Barclays raised their price target on Affirm from $54.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Affirm from $46.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Affirm from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Affirm from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $22.00 to $37.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $46.00 price target on shares of Affirm in a research note on Friday, October 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $46.85.

Affirm Price Performance

Shares of Affirm stock opened at $63.96 on Wednesday. Affirm has a 52 week low of $22.25 and a 52 week high of $64.01. The company has a current ratio of 12.60, a quick ratio of 12.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.50. The stock has a market cap of $20.09 billion, a PE ratio of -45.04 and a beta of 3.47. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $45.50 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $36.11.

Affirm (NASDAQ:AFRM) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported ($0.31) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.36) by $0.05. The business had revenue of $698.48 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $661.39 million. Affirm had a negative net margin of 17.67% and a negative return on equity of 12.57%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.57) EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Affirm will post -0.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Affirm news, insider Katherine Adkins sold 200,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.05, for a total transaction of $11,010,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 93,545 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,149,652.25. This represents a 68.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Robert O’hare sold 100,938 shares of Affirm stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.00, for a total transaction of $5,551,590.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 403,738 shares of company stock valued at $21,115,878 in the last quarter. Insiders own 12.41% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Affirm

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Affirm by 6.8% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 20,823,803 shares of the company’s stock worth $775,895,000 after purchasing an additional 1,316,901 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Affirm by 0.4% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 19,079,071 shares of the company’s stock worth $710,886,000 after buying an additional 77,050 shares during the period. Spyglass Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Affirm by 9.3% in the third quarter. Spyglass Capital Management LLC now owns 2,348,095 shares of the company’s stock worth $95,849,000 after acquiring an additional 200,449 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Affirm by 44.0% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,203,210 shares of the company’s stock valued at $89,935,000 after acquiring an additional 672,883 shares during the period. Finally, Dragoneer Investment Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Affirm in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $45,219,000. 69.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Affirm Company Profile

Affirm Holdings, Inc operates a platform for digital and mobile-first commerce in the United States, Canada, and internationally. The company's platform includes point-of-sale payment solution for consumers, merchant commerce solutions, and a consumer-focused app. Its commerce platform, agreements with originating banks, and capital markets partners enables consumers to pay for a purchase over time with terms ranging up to 60 months.