Legato Capital Management LLC Invests $568,000 in Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. $BFH

Legato Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BFH) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm bought 7,672 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $568,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. AlphaQuest LLC bought a new position in shares of Bread Financial in the third quarter worth about $1,620,000. Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its holdings in shares of Bread Financial by 12.2% in the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 209,029 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,658,000 after acquiring an additional 22,745 shares during the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH lifted its holdings in shares of Bread Financial by 44.5% in the third quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 943,659 shares of the company’s stock worth $52,628,000 after acquiring an additional 290,803 shares during the last quarter. Brooktree Capital Management increased its stake in shares of Bread Financial by 5.1% in the third quarter. Brooktree Capital Management now owns 164,084 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,151,000 after buying an additional 8,002 shares during the period. Finally, Hudson Bay Capital Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Bread Financial in the third quarter valued at approximately $14,090,000. Institutional investors own 99.52% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BFH has been the subject of several recent research reports. Zacks Research raised Bread Financial from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. BTIG Research upped their price objective on Bread Financial from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Loop Capital initiated coverage on Bread Financial in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $104.00 price objective for the company. Weiss Ratings raised Bread Financial from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Finally, Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $99.00 price objective on shares of Bread Financial in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Bread Financial has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $94.25.

Bread Financial Stock Performance

Bread Financial stock opened at $88.73 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $81.76 and a 200-day moving average of $75.48. Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $49.17 and a 1 year high of $99.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 1.15 and a quick ratio of 1.15. The company has a market capitalization of $3.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.27, a P/E/G ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 1.12.

Bread Financial (NYSE:BFH) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The company reported $4.18 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.00 by $1.18. The business had revenue of $1.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $992.05 million. Bread Financial had a net margin of 11.90% and a return on equity of 18.79%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.86 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. will post 10.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Bread Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 29th will be given a dividend of $0.23 per share. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 29th. Bread Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 7.53%.

Bread Financial announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Thursday, February 26th that permits the company to buyback $600.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to reacquire up to 19% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director John J. Fawcett bought 698 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 21st. The stock was acquired at an average price of $86.43 per share, with a total value of $60,328.14. Following the transaction, the director owned 11,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $950,730. This trade represents a 6.78% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Roger H. Ballou sold 9,687 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.32, for a total transaction of $874,929.84. Following the sale, the director directly owned 30,079 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,716,735.28. This represents a 24.36% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Corporate insiders own 1.30% 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.