Rent-A-Center, Inc. (NASDAQ:RCII – Get Rating) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Buy” from the six ratings firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $49.25.

Several analysts have recently commented on RCII shares. Zacks Investment Research raised Rent-A-Center from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $28.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, May 9th. Raymond James downgraded Rent-A-Center from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $65.00 to $40.00 in a research note on Friday, February 25th. KeyCorp reduced their target price on Rent-A-Center from $68.00 to $44.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 25th. Finally, StockNews.com initiated coverage on Rent-A-Center in a report on Thursday, March 31st. They issued a “hold” rating for the company.

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. US Bancorp DE grew its holdings in shares of Rent-A-Center by 12.8% in the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 2,743 shares of the company’s stock valued at $155,000 after acquiring an additional 311 shares in the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its holdings in Rent-A-Center by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 49,220 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,365,000 after purchasing an additional 333 shares during the period. Voya Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Rent-A-Center by 1.2% during the third quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 28,469 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,600,000 after purchasing an additional 339 shares during the period. Profund Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Rent-A-Center by 6.0% during the fourth quarter. Profund Advisors LLC now owns 6,371 shares of the company’s stock valued at $306,000 after purchasing an additional 359 shares during the period. Finally, Maryland State Retirement & Pension System grew its holdings in Rent-A-Center by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System now owns 24,111 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,158,000 after purchasing an additional 374 shares during the period. 81.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Shares of Rent-A-Center stock opened at $25.31 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $1.50 billion, a PE ratio of 19.77 and a beta of 1.54. Rent-A-Center has a 52 week low of $22.70 and a 52 week high of $67.76. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $25.76 and a 200-day moving average price of $35.41. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 3.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.68.

Rent-A-Center (NASDAQ:RCII – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 4th. The company reported $0.74 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.71 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $1.13 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.11 billion. Rent-A-Center had a return on equity of 48.47% and a net margin of 1.87%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.32 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Rent-A-Center will post 4.64 EPS for the current year.

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 22nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 5th were issued a $0.34 dividend. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.37%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, April 4th. Rent-A-Center’s dividend payout ratio is presently 106.25%.

Rent-A-Center Company Profile (Get Rating)

Rent-A-Center, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, leases household durable goods to customers on a lease-to-own basis. The company operates in four segments: Rent-A-Center Business, Acima, Mexico, and Franchising. It offers furniture and accessories, appliances, consumer electronics, computers, tablets and smartphones, tools, tires, handbags, and other accessories under rental purchase agreements.

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