Analysts Set Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BFH) Target Price at $70.18

Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BFH) has been given a consensus rating of “Hold” by the fifteen ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $70.1818.

BFH has been the topic of several research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued an “underweight” rating and issued a $72.00 target price on shares of Bread Financial in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. Morgan Stanley set a $57.00 price target on shares of Bread Financial and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 16th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Bread Financial from $64.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Bread Financial from $64.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on Bread Financial from $88.00 to $71.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 1st.

Institutional Trading of Bread Financial

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in Bread Financial in the 3rd quarter valued at $14,090,000. Prana Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Bread Financial in the third quarter valued at about $278,000. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Bread Financial during the 3rd quarter valued at about $278,000. Tweedy Browne Co LLC lifted its position in Bread Financial by 104.4% during the 3rd quarter. Tweedy Browne Co LLC now owns 16,851 shares of the company’s stock worth $940,000 after acquiring an additional 8,606 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd lifted its position in Bread Financial by 8,300.0% during the 3rd quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 840 shares of the company’s stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 830 shares in the last quarter. 99.52% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Bread Financial Price Performance

BFH stock opened at $76.66 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.48 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. Bread Financial has a 52-week low of $38.21 and a 52-week high of $78.98. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $67.88 and its 200-day simple moving average is $62.61.

Bread Financial (NYSE:BFH) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 23rd. The company reported $4.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.11 by $1.91. The firm had revenue of $1.24 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $974.30 million. Bread Financial had a return on equity of 15.97% and a net margin of 10.08%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.83 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Bread Financial will post 6.45 EPS for the current year.

Bread Financial announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Thursday, October 23rd that allows the company to buyback $200.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to purchase up to 7.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Bread Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 7th were issued a dividend of $0.23 per share. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 7th. This is an increase from Bread Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. Bread Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.37%.

About Bread Financial

Bread Financial, formerly known as Alliance Data Systems, is a Columbus, Ohio–based financial services company that specializes in providing private label credit programs, co-brand credit cards and digital payment solutions for retail partners. The company designs, issues and services proprietary credit products, enabling merchants to offer branded financing options that drive customer loyalty and increase basket sizes at the point of sale. Through its Bread technology platform, Bread Financial delivers installment-based payment options that integrate directly into e-commerce and in-store checkout experiences.

In addition to its core credit offerings, Bread Financial provides analytics, marketing and loyalty services to help merchants better understand consumer behavior and optimize promotional strategies.