Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BFH) Given Average Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BFH) has received a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the fifteen ratings firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have given a hold recommendation and eight have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $107.9167.

Several brokerages recently weighed in on BFH. Zacks Research cut shares of Bread Financial from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, July 6th. BTIG Research raised their target price on Bread Financial from $105.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Bank of America reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $108.00 target price on shares of Bread Financial in a report on Wednesday, June 10th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Bread Financial from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, June 13th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Bread Financial from $94.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Bread Financial

In other news, Director John J. Fawcett acquired 698 shares of Bread Financial stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 21st. The shares were bought at an average cost of $86.43 per share, with a total value of $60,328.14. Following the purchase, the director owned 11,000 shares in the company, valued at $950,730. This trade represents a 6.78% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Roger H. Ballou sold 9,687 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.32, for a total transaction of $874,929.84. Following the sale, the director owned 30,079 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,716,735.28. This trade represents a 24.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Bread Financial

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Bread Financial by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,086,060 shares of the company’s stock worth $231,111,000 after acquiring an additional 9,854 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in shares of Bread Financial by 17.3% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,029,894 shares of the company’s stock valued at $150,273,000 after purchasing an additional 299,439 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Bread Financial by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,159,731 shares of the company’s stock valued at $85,866,000 after purchasing an additional 14,257 shares in the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH grew its stake in Bread Financial by 21.6% during the fourth quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 1,147,366 shares of the company’s stock worth $84,940,000 after purchasing an additional 203,707 shares during the period. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its holdings in Bread Financial by 14.7% in the first quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 1,009,890 shares of the company’s stock worth $74,667,000 after purchasing an additional 129,774 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.52% of the company’s stock.

Bread Financial Stock Up 1.2%

NYSE:BFH opened at $99.33 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $95.66 and its 200 day simple moving average is $83.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 1.15 and a quick ratio of 1.15. Bread Financial has a one year low of $53.83 and a one year high of $109.91. The company has a market cap of $4.01 billion, a PE ratio of 8.13, a P/E/G ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 1.10.

Bread Financial (NYSE:BFH) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The company reported $4.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.00 by $1.18. The firm had revenue of $1.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $992.05 million. Bread Financial had a net margin of 11.90% and a return on equity of 18.79%. The company’s revenue was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.86 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Bread Financial will post 10.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Bread Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Investors of record on Friday, May 29th were issued a $0.23 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 29th. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. Bread Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 7.53%.

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.