Amundi Buys 15,883 Shares of Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BFH)

Amundi raised its stake in Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BFH) by 88.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 33,820 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 15,883 shares during the quarter. Amundi owned 0.07% of Bread Financial worth $2,005,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in BFH. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Bread Financial by 207.7% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,394 shares of the company’s stock worth $86,000 after purchasing an additional 941 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV lifted its holdings in Bread Financial by 36.1% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,103 shares of the company’s stock worth $128,000 after buying an additional 558 shares during the period. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. grew its position in shares of Bread Financial by 64.6% in the 3rd quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. now owns 2,631 shares of the company’s stock worth $125,000 after buying an additional 1,033 shares during the last quarter. Choreo LLC purchased a new position in shares of Bread Financial during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $201,000. Finally, Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. bought a new position in shares of Bread Financial during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $201,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.52% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on BFH. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Bread Financial from an “underweight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $35.00 to $76.00 in a report on Thursday, December 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Bread Financial from $52.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Compass Point raised their price objective on shares of Bread Financial from $75.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Bread Financial in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Bread Financial from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Bread Financial presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $59.69.

Bread Financial Stock Down 2.9 %

Shares of Bread Financial stock opened at $47.83 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $58.05 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $56.47. Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. has a 52-week low of $32.10 and a 52-week high of $66.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 1.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.35 billion, a PE ratio of 8.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.96.

Bread Financial (NYSE:BFH) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The company reported $0.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.07. Bread Financial had a return on equity of 12.41% and a net margin of 5.75%. On average, analysts anticipate that Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. will post 6.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bread Financial announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, March 5th that authorizes the company to buyback $150.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to reacquire up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Bread Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.76%. Bread Financial’s payout ratio is 15.14%.

Bread Financial 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.