Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BFH) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BFH) has received an average recommendation of “Hold” from the fifteen analysts that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $80.0909.

A number of brokerages have commented on BFH. UBS Group began coverage on Bread Financial in a report on Thursday, January 8th. They set a “buy” rating and a $92.00 price objective for the company. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Bread Financial from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Bread Financial from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, December 22nd. Evercore upgraded shares of Bread Financial from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $90.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, BTIG Research reissued a “buy” rating and set a $98.00 target price on shares of Bread Financial in a research report on Friday, January 30th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Bread Financial

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its holdings in Bread Financial by 4.5% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 29,589 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,482,000 after acquiring an additional 1,286 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC boosted its holdings in Bread Financial by 46.5% during the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 345,902 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,323,000 after purchasing an additional 109,864 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in Bread Financial by 104.8% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 736,604 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,889,000 after purchasing an additional 376,920 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its position in Bread Financial by 3.0% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 157,833 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,904,000 after purchasing an additional 4,624 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Strs Ohio purchased a new stake in Bread Financial in the 1st quarter valued at about $65,000. 99.52% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Bread Financial Trading Up 0.3%

BFH opened at $72.51 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $74.52 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $66.59. Bread Financial has a 1-year low of $38.21 and a 1-year high of $82.03. The company has a market cap of $3.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.46 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27.

Bread Financial (NYSE:BFH) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The company reported $2.07 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.40 by $1.67. Bread Financial had a return on equity of 17.92% and a net margin of 11.02%.The company had revenue of $975.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $954.74 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.41 EPS. Analysts predict that Bread Financial will post 6.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Bread Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 27th will be paid a $0.23 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 27th. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. Bread Financial’s dividend payout ratio is 8.49%.

Bread Financial Company Profile

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.