Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BFH) Short Interest Update

Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BFH) saw a significant growth in short interest during the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,610,000 shares, a growth of 7.4% from the August 31st total of 3,360,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,010,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.6 days. Currently, 7.5% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of BFH. Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Bread Financial by 81.6% during the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,464,195 shares of the company’s stock worth $65,245,000 after buying an additional 657,968 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Bread Financial in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $14,365,000. Point72 Asset Management L.P. raised its stake in shares of Bread Financial by 152.9% during the second quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 645,689 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,772,000 after purchasing an additional 390,413 shares during the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Bread Financial by 86.2% during the first quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 485,113 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,066,000 after purchasing an additional 224,545 shares during the period. Finally, Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. acquired a new position in Bread Financial in the 4th quarter valued at $7,263,000. 99.52% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Bread Financial Stock Down 1.6 %

NYSE:BFH traded down $0.78 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $46.80. 260,929 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 871,878. The company has a current ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. Bread Financial has a fifty-two week low of $26.08 and a fifty-two week high of $59.66. The company has a market capitalization of $2.32 billion, a PE ratio of 5.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.17 and a beta of 1.95. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $52.00 and a 200 day simple moving average of $44.57.

Bread Financial (NYSE:BFH) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The company reported $2.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $1.06. Bread Financial had a return on equity of 16.24% and a net margin of 9.77%. The firm had revenue of $939.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $922.01 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.27 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Bread Financial will post 7.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bread Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 13th. Investors of record on Friday, August 9th were given a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.79%. Bread Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 10.58%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on BFH. Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of Bread Financial from $61.00 to $57.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Evercore ISI upgraded Bread Financial from an “underperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and raised their target price for the company from $42.00 to $45.00 in a report on Thursday, June 20th. Compass Point boosted their price target on shares of Bread Financial from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Bread Financial from $32.00 to $37.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, BTIG Research assumed coverage on shares of Bread Financial in a report on Friday, June 7th. They set a “neutral” rating on the stock. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Bread Financial has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $49.71.

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.