Rafferty Assets Management LLC has taken a new place in Rent-A-Center Inc (NASDAQ:$RCII) by buying up 458,709 shares of the rent-to-own company. The stocks, valued at approximately $5,376,000, moves Rafferty Assets Management to own about 0.86% of Rent-A-Center.

Rent-A-Center is a company that offers consumers the chance to purchase a variety of items, including electronics and furniture, under a rent-to-own agreement.

Rafferty isn’t the only one interested in acquiring more stock. Nomura Holdings, Inc. increased its stake by a whopping 11,161.3% with a current total of 1,935,688 shares in the company, valued at $17,122,00. Engaged Capital LLC raised its stake by 290.2% during the 1st quarter, coming in at 8,983,609 shares valued at $79,685,000. JPMorgan Chase also raised its stake by 1,124.8% with 1,229,142 shares valued at $14,405,000. 

Meanwhile, several companies have bought their own stake in the company. FMR LLC purchased $10,586,000 of the stock during the 1st quarter. Blackstone Group LP also purchased a new stake valued at $10,560,000.

Analysts have been strongly divided on the stock. BidaskClub has changed the stock’s rating from ‘Buy’ to ‘Strong-Buy’. On Friday, July 28th, Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a hold rating and set a target price at $13.00. On June 7, Loop lowered the rating from ‘Hold’ to ‘Sell’. With such a divisive opinion, the average consensus of ‘Hold’ and a target price of $11.50.

During trading on Tuesday, the stock was traded down during midday by 0.90% to $12.10. 118,688 stocks were traded during this time. The market cap sits at $644.94 million with a 50 and 200-day moving average of $12.70 and $11.44 respectively. The company has a one year low of $7.76 and a one year high of $13.89.

During the last posted quarterly earnings, the company reported a $0.01 EPS, coming short of the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $0.08. The company also noted a 3.87% equity return and a negative net margin of 5.57%.

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