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

Shares of Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BFH) have received a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the twelve brokerages that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have issued a hold recommendation and three have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $66.20.

Several analysts recently issued reports on BFH shares. Evercore ISI cut their target price on Bread Financial from $68.00 to $64.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, September 30th. BTIG Research set a $105.00 target price on Bread Financial and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Bread Financial from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on Bread Financial from $88.00 to $71.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Bread Financial from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 9th.

Insider Activity at Bread Financial

In other news, Director John J. Fawcett bought 1,027 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 30th. The stock was bought at an average price of $61.79 per share, for a total transaction of $63,458.33. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 10,302 shares in the company, valued at $636,560.58. This trade represents a 11.07% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.85% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in BFH. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Bread Financial in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $338,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Bread Financial by 6,311.9% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 72,967 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,654,000 after purchasing an additional 71,829 shares during the period. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Bread Financial by 36.4% in the 1st quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 18,847 shares of the company’s stock valued at $944,000 after purchasing an additional 5,028 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new position in shares of Bread Financial during the first quarter valued at approximately $386,000. Finally, CX Institutional lifted its holdings in shares of Bread Financial by 14,819.9% during the first quarter. CX Institutional now owns 47,296 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,369,000 after purchasing an additional 46,979 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.52% of the company’s stock.

Bread Financial Trading Up 1.5%

NYSE BFH opened at $55.85 on Friday. Bread Financial has a 1-year low of $38.21 and a 1-year high of $68.01. The company has a current ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $61.02 and a 200-day moving average of $55.76. The firm has a market cap of $2.60 billion, a PE ratio of 9.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.50 and a beta of 1.41.

Bread Financial (NYSE:BFH) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The company reported $3.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $1.29. The company had revenue of $929.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $944.69 million. Bread Financial had a return on equity of 13.10% and a net margin of 6.05%.Bread Financial’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.66 EPS. Bread Financial has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Bread Financial will post 6.45 EPS for the current year.

Bread Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 8th were given a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 8th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.5%. Bread Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 14.21%.

Bread Financial declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, August 27th that permits the company to repurchase $0.00 in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

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.