Wall Street Zen Downgrades Affirm (NASDAQ:AFRM) to Hold

Affirm (NASDAQ:AFRM) was downgraded by analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a note issued to investors on Saturday.

Other research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Affirm in a report on Tuesday, December 9th. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. Citigroup upgraded Affirm to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on Affirm from $105.00 to $94.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 13th. Evercore ISI reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Affirm in a research report on Tuesday, December 16th. Finally, Rothschild Redb raised Affirm from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $86.57.

Affirm Stock Performance

Shares of AFRM stock opened at $74.03 on Friday. Affirm has a 12-month low of $30.90 and a 12-month high of $100.00. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $71.40 and its 200-day simple moving average is $73.58. The company has a current ratio of 12.80, a quick ratio of 12.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.40. The company has a market cap of $24.44 billion, a PE ratio of 110.49, a PEG ratio of 3.36 and a beta of 3.57.

Affirm (NASDAQ:AFRM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported $0.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.11 by $0.12. Affirm had a return on equity of 7.75% and a net margin of 6.74%.The business had revenue of $933.34 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $881.83 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($0.31) EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 33.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Affirm will post -0.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Robert O’hare sold 8,189 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.00, for a total transaction of $573,230.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 1,368 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $95,760. This represents a 85.69% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 11.01% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Affirm

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in Affirm by 294.2% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,333,691 shares of the company’s stock valued at $316,706,000 after buying an additional 3,234,260 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Affirm in the second quarter valued at $183,475,000. Atreides Management LP boosted its stake in shares of Affirm by 543.3% during 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. State Street Corp increased its position in Affirm by 26.7% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,641,965 shares of the company’s stock worth $412,315,000 after purchasing an additional 1,187,665 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Affirm by 4.0% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,195,810 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,672,898,000 after purchasing an additional 922,813 shares in the last quarter. 69.29% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Affirm

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.