Affirm (NASDAQ:AFRM) Upgraded by Morgan Stanley to Overweight Rating

Affirm (NASDAQ:AFRM) was upgraded by Morgan Stanley from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note issued on Tuesday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has a $76.00 price objective on the stock. Morgan Stanley’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 22.60% from the stock’s previous close.

AFRM has been the subject of several other reports. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on Affirm from $105.00 to $94.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 13th. Rothschild Redb upgraded Affirm from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 6th. Citigroup upgraded Affirm to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of Affirm in a report on Tuesday, December 9th. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Finally, Truist Financial decreased their price objective on shares of Affirm from $90.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 19th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have issued a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $89.16.

Affirm Stock Performance

Shares of AFRM stock opened at $61.99 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $72.27 and a 200-day moving average of $74.48. The company has a market cap of $20.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 92.52, a P/E/G ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 3.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.40, a current ratio of 12.80 and a quick ratio of 12.80. Affirm has a one year low of $30.90 and a one year high of $100.00.

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

Insider Activity at Affirm

In related news, CFO Robert O’hare sold 36,401 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 1,368 shares in the company, valued at approximately $109,440. This represents a 96.38% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Max R. Levchin sold 666,666 shares of Affirm stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.62, for a total transaction of $53,746,612.92. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders sold 711,256 shares of company stock worth $57,231,923. Insiders own 11.01% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Affirm

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Federated Hermes Inc. bought a new position in shares of Affirm in the third quarter valued at approximately $19,077,000. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. bought a new position in Affirm in the third quarter valued at $6,036,000. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in Affirm during the third quarter valued at about $1,315,000. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Affirm during the second quarter worth about $183,475,000. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its position in shares of Affirm by 96.3% during the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,261,611 shares of the company’s stock valued at $93,889,000 after purchasing an additional 618,988 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.