Equities analysts expect that Rent-A-Center, Inc. (NASDAQ:RCII – Get Rating) will post earnings per share of $1.02 for the current quarter, Zacks Investment Research reports. Four analysts have issued estimates for Rent-A-Center’s earnings. The highest EPS estimate is $1.07 and the lowest is $0.98. Rent-A-Center reported earnings of $1.63 per share in the same quarter last year, which would indicate a negative year over year growth rate of 37.4%. The firm is scheduled to report its next earnings results on Monday, January 1st.

According to Zacks, analysts expect that Rent-A-Center will report full year earnings of $4.64 per share for the current year, with EPS estimates ranging from $4.50 to $4.82. For the next year, analysts anticipate that the company will post earnings of $5.69 per share, with EPS estimates ranging from $4.98 to $6.54. Zacks’ earnings per share calculations are a mean average based on a survey of research firms that cover Rent-A-Center.

Rent-A-Center (NASDAQ:RCII – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 4th. The company reported $0.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.71 by $0.03. Rent-A-Center had a net margin of 1.87% and a return on equity of 48.47%. The business had revenue of $1.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.11 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.32 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis.

RCII has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Rent-A-Center in a research note on Thursday, March 31st. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. KeyCorp lowered their target price on shares of Rent-A-Center from $68.00 to $44.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 25th. Zacks Investment Research upgraded Rent-A-Center from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $28.00 price objective for the company in a report on Monday, May 9th. Finally, Raymond James cut shares of Rent-A-Center from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $65.00 to $40.00 in a research report on Friday, February 25th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $49.25.

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. CWM LLC bought a new position in Rent-A-Center in the fourth quarter valued at $92,000. US Bancorp DE grew its position in shares of Rent-A-Center by 12.8% in the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 2,743 shares of the company’s stock valued at $155,000 after acquiring an additional 311 shares during the period. Gladius Capital Management LP bought a new position in shares of Rent-A-Center in the 4th quarter valued at about $142,000. Dark Forest Capital Management LP grew its position in shares of Rent-A-Center by 286.2% in the 3rd quarter. Dark Forest Capital Management LP now owns 3,082 shares of the company’s stock valued at $173,000 after acquiring an additional 2,284 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Advisory Group Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Rent-A-Center in the 1st quarter valued at about $81,000. 81.66% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Shares of NASDAQ:RCII traded up $0.99 on Monday, reaching $26.30. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 739,587 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,037,775. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $25.78 and its two-hundred day moving average is $35.20. Rent-A-Center has a 52-week low of $22.70 and a 52-week high of $67.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.68, a current ratio of 3.25 and a quick ratio of 0.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.55 and a beta of 1.54.

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 22nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 5th were paid a $0.34 dividend. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.17%. 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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