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

Shares of Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BFH) have received a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the fifteen brokerages that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have issued a hold recommendation and eight have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $110.5833.

BFH has been the subject of several research reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Bread Financial from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, June 13th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Bread Financial in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $116.00 price target on shares of Bread Financial in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Wolfe Research reaffirmed a “positive” rating on shares of Bread Financial in a report on Wednesday, June 10th. Finally, BTIG Research upped their price target on shares of Bread Financial from $105.00 to $132.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 30th.

Bread Financial Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BFH opened at $112.33 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a current ratio of 1.17. The company has a market cap of $4.32 billion, a PE ratio of 8.76, a P/E/G ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 1.11. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $100.92 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $86.12. Bread Financial has a fifty-two week low of $53.83 and a fifty-two week high of $114.12.

Bread Financial (NYSE:BFH) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The company reported $3.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.74 by $0.81. The firm had revenue of $992.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $959.32 million. Bread Financial had a net margin of 11.95% and a return on equity of 18.42%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.15 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Bread Financial will post 11.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bread Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 31st will be issued a $0.23 dividend. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 31st. Bread Financial’s payout ratio is 7.18%.

Insider Transactions at Bread Financial

In other Bread Financial news, CEO Ralph J. Andretta sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.10, for a total value of $1,336,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 582,241 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $51,877,673.10. The trade was a 2.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Praniti Lakhwara sold 2,802 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.12, for a total value of $297,348.24. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 4,458 shares in the company, valued at approximately $473,082.96. This represents a 38.60% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Company insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Bread Financial

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Kemnay Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new position in Bread Financial in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Bread Financial during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its holdings in Bread Financial by 141.2% during the 3rd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 562 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 329 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Bread Financial by 58.7% in the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 614 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 227 shares in the last quarter. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Bread Financial by 127.2% during the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 711 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 398 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.52% of the company’s stock.

About Bread Financial

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.