Bread Financial (NYSE:BFH) Sets New 52-Week High Following Analyst Upgrade

Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BFH) shares reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Thursday after Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on the stock from $38.00 to $45.00. Royal Bank of Canada currently has a sector perform rating on the stock. Bread Financial traded as high as $43.28 and last traded at $42.82, with a volume of 118495 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $40.84.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $67.00 price objective on shares of Bread Financial in a report on Monday. BTIG Research assumed coverage on shares of Bread Financial in a research note on Friday, June 7th. They issued a “neutral” rating for the company. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Bread Financial from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Bread Financial from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised Bread Financial from an “underperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $42.00 to $45.00 in a research report on Thursday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $40.92.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Bread Financial by 3.8% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,847,645 shares of the company’s stock worth $217,766,000 after acquiring an additional 216,274 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Bread Financial by 9.3% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,000,035 shares of the company’s stock worth $98,823,000 after buying an additional 256,221 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of Bread Financial by 7.8% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,107,253 shares of the company’s stock worth $69,413,000 after buying an additional 152,954 shares in the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Bread Financial by 14.0% in the 4th quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 807,557 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,601,000 after acquiring an additional 99,029 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG grew its position in Bread Financial by 586.5% during the 3rd quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 712,566 shares of the company’s stock worth $24,370,000 after acquiring an additional 608,769 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.52% of the company’s stock.

Bread Financial Trading Up 7.9 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a current ratio of 1.18. The firm has a market cap of $2.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.55, a PEG ratio of 0.18 and a beta of 1.94. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $39.42 and a 200-day simple moving average of $36.41.

Bread Financial (NYSE:BFH) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.92 by ($0.19). Bread Financial had a net margin of 8.08% and a return on equity of 14.44%. The firm had revenue of $991.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $998.96 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $9.08 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 23.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. will post 5.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bread Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 14th. Investors of record on Friday, May 10th were paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.91%. Bread Financial’s dividend payout ratio is 10.58%.

Bread Financial Company Profile

Bread Financial Holdings, Inc provides tech-forward payment and lending solutions to customers and consumer-based industries in North America. It offers credit card and other loans financing services, including risk management solutions, account origination, and funding services for private label and co-brand credit card programs, as well as through Bread partnerships; and Comenity-branded general purpose cash-back credit.