goeasy (TSE:GSY) Lowered to “Hold” Rating by National Bank Financial

National Bank Financial cut shares of goeasy (TSE:GSY) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a report released on Tuesday morning,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on GSY. TD Securities downgraded goeasy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from C$160.00 to C$135.00 in a research report on Monday, January 19th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded goeasy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Scotiabank reduced their target price on goeasy from C$225.00 to C$210.00 in a research report on Friday, January 30th. BMO Capital Markets downgraded goeasy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Raymond James Financial downgraded shares of goeasy from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price objective for the company from C$208.00 to C$153.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 3rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of C$180.33.

goeasy Trading Down 18.2%

TSE GSY opened at C$40.67 on Tuesday. goeasy has a 52 week low of C$37.83 and a 52 week high of C$216.50. The company has a 50 day moving average price of C$121.22 and a 200 day moving average price of C$145.91. The company has a quick ratio of 28.46, a current ratio of 42.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 383.82. The firm has a market cap of C$651.78 million, a PE ratio of 2.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 0.16.

goeasy Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 9th. Investors of record on Friday, January 9th were given a $1.46 dividend. This represents a $5.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 14.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 24th. goeasy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 40.48%.

goeasy News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting goeasy this week:

• Negative Sentiment: Royal Bank of Canada downgraded goeasy from “hold” to “strong sell” — a steep cut that likely increased selling pressure by signalling elevated downside risk to investors. RBC downgrade (Zacks) RBC/TickerReport
• Negative Sentiment: Jefferies trimmed its view from “strong-buy” to “hold” — removing a previous buy endorsement and reducing potential buy-side conviction. Jefferies downgrade (Zacks)
• Negative Sentiment: BMO Capital Markets lowered its rating from “strong-buy” to “hold” — another sell-side pullback that compresses analyst support across the board. BMO downgrade (Zacks)
• Negative Sentiment: National Bank Financial cut its rating from “strong-buy” to “hold” — part of a sweep of downgrades that can trigger revaluation by institutional investors. National Bank downgrade (Zacks)
• Negative Sentiment: goeasy announced a major charge-off and withdrew its financial forecast — a direct operational hit that materially raises uncertainty around earnings and credit quality, and appears to be the primary catalyst for the analyst downgrades and the stock decline. MSN: charge-off and forecast withdrawal

goeasy Company Profile

goeasy Ltd provides financial services to own furniture, electronics, computers, and appliances. It offers merchandise leasing of household furnishings, appliances, and home electronic products to consumers under weekly or monthly leasing agreements. The company also offers unsecured installment loans to consumers. Its reportable business segments include easyhome and easyfinancial, of which it derives maximum revenue from easyfinancial segment.