Legal & General Group Plc Buys 122,584 Shares of Affirm Holdings, Inc. $AFRM

Key Points

• Legal & General Group Plc increased its Affirm stake by 25.4% in the fourth quarter, buying 122,584 additional shares and bringing its total holdings to 605,521 shares worth about $45.1 million.
• Institutional ownership in Affirm remains very high at 69.29%, with several other big funds also adding shares during recent quarters, including Vanguard, State Street, and Invesco.
• Affirm recently beat earnings expectations with $0.30 EPS versus the $0.17 consensus, while analysts remain broadly positive, assigning the stock a Moderate Buy rating and an average target price of $86.20.

Legal & General Group Plc raised its stake in Affirm Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:AFRM - Free Report) by 25.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 605,521 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 122,584 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc owned approximately 0.18% of Affirm worth $45,069,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Affirm by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,847,206 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,849,378,000 after acquiring an additional 428,138 shares during the last quarter. Durable Capital Partners LP increased its holdings in Affirm by 12.3% in the 2nd quarter. Durable Capital Partners LP now owns 7,389,337 shares of the company's stock valued at $510,899,000 after acquiring an additional 808,455 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Affirm by 26.7% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,641,965 shares of the company's stock valued at $412,315,000 after acquiring an additional 1,187,665 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in Affirm by 294.2% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,333,691 shares of the company's stock valued at $316,706,000 after acquiring an additional 3,234,260 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its holdings in Affirm by 11,042.3% in the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 2,161,278 shares of the company's stock valued at $157,004,000 after acquiring an additional 2,141,881 shares during the last quarter. 69.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Affirm

In other news, Director Noel Bertram Watson sold 2,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.00, for a total value of $130,000.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 36,076 shares in the company, valued at $2,344,940. The trade was a 5.25% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, 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 currently owned by company insiders.

Affirm Stock Performance

Affirm stock opened at $73.65 on Friday. The company's 50-day moving average price is $58.55 and its 200-day moving average price is $62.60. Affirm Holdings, Inc. has a twelve month low of $42.10 and a twelve month 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. The company has a market cap of $24.67 billion, a PE ratio of 66.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.31 and a beta of 3.72.

Affirm (NASDAQ:AFRM - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.17 by $0.13. Affirm had a net margin of 9.63% and a return on equity of 11.17%. The firm had revenue of $943.95 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $995.27 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.01 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 32.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Affirm Holdings, Inc. will post 1.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have issued reports on AFRM shares. Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of Affirm from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday. Citizens Jmp reduced their price target on shares of Affirm from $105.00 to $85.00 and set a "market outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 17th. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price target on shares of Affirm from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price target on shares of Affirm from $61.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on shares of Affirm in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $75.00 price objective for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have given a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Affirm presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $86.20.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.