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

Shares of Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BFH) have received an average recommendation of “Hold” from the sixteen ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $59.69.

BFH has been the topic of several research reports. Morgan Stanley raised Bread Financial from an “underweight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $35.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Bread Financial in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Compass Point upped their price target on Bread Financial from $75.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Barclays upped their price target on Bread Financial from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on Bread Financial from $67.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th.

Bread Financial Price Performance

Shares of BFH stock opened at $50.04 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $57.29 and its 200-day moving average is $56.24. 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 $2.46 billion, a PE ratio of 9.02, a PEG ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.96. Bread Financial has a 52 week low of $32.10 and a 52 week high of $66.71.

Bread Financial (NYSE:BFH) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The company reported $0.41 EPS for the quarter, topping 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%. Equities research analysts expect that Bread Financial will post 6.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bread Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. Bread Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 15.14%.

Bread Financial announced that its board has approved a share buyback program on Wednesday, March 5th that allows the company to buyback $150.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Bread Financial

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of BFH. Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Bread Financial during the fourth quarter worth about $104,000. Point72 Asset Management L.P. raised its position in shares of Bread Financial by 550.8% during the fourth quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 462,307 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,228,000 after purchasing an additional 391,272 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Bread Financial during the fourth quarter worth about $23,740,000. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Bread Financial by 31.1% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,207,404 shares of the company’s stock worth $73,724,000 after buying an additional 286,720 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Bread Financial by 30.2% during the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 1,121,329 shares of the company’s stock worth $53,353,000 after buying an additional 260,283 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.52% of the company’s stock.

About Bread Financial

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.