Geode Capital Management LLC Sells 54,700 Shares of Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. $BFH

Geode Capital Management LLC reduced its position in shares of Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BFH) by 4.6% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,135,784 shares of the company’s stock after selling 54,700 shares during the quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC owned about 2.44% of Bread Financial worth $64,884,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in Bread Financial by 5.8% during the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,461,844 shares of the company’s stock valued at $73,209,000 after purchasing an additional 79,709 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of Bread Financial by 45.0% in the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,320,418 shares of the company’s stock worth $66,127,000 after buying an additional 409,877 shares in the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Bread Financial by 9.9% in the 2nd quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 800,143 shares of the company’s stock worth $45,704,000 after buying an additional 71,939 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Bread Financial by 104.8% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 736,604 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,889,000 after buying an additional 376,920 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allianz Asset Management GmbH raised its position in shares of Bread Financial by 33.7% during the 2nd quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 652,856 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,291,000 after buying an additional 164,540 shares in the last quarter. 99.52% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BFH has been the subject of several recent research reports. Zacks Research upgraded Bread Financial from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 27th. Barclays raised their price objective on Bread Financial from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Bread Financial in a research report on Wednesday. TD Cowen increased their price target on Bread Financial from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, October 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Bread Financial from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $70.00.

Bread Financial Stock Up 4.9%

Shares of NYSE:BFH opened at $64.69 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.95 billion, a PE ratio of 6.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.50 and a beta of 1.51. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $60.78 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $59.09. Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $38.21 and a 1 year high of $68.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 1.19 and a quick ratio of 1.18.

Bread Financial (NYSE:BFH) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 23rd. The company reported $4.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.11 by $1.91. Bread Financial had a return on equity of 15.97% and a net margin of 10.08%.The firm had revenue of $161.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $974.30 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.83 EPS. Bread Financial’s quarterly revenue was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Bread Financial has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. will post 6.45 EPS for the current year.

Bread Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 7th will be given a dividend of $0.23 per share. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.4%. This is a positive change from Bread Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 7th. Bread Financial’s dividend payout ratio is 9.37%.

Bread Financial declared that its board has approved a share buyback program on Wednesday, August 27th that authorizes the company to repurchase $0.00 in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is 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.