American Century Companies Inc. Purchases 28,901 Shares of Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. $BFH

American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BFH) by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,490,745 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 28,901 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc. owned about 3.20% of Bread Financial worth $85,151,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of BFH. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Bread Financial by 15.0% during the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 10,816 shares of the company’s stock valued at $542,000 after buying an additional 1,412 shares during the last quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new stake in shares of Bread Financial in the 1st quarter worth about $1,740,000. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS lifted its position in Bread Financial by 51.0% in the 1st quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS now owns 15,100 shares of the company’s stock valued at $756,000 after acquiring an additional 5,100 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. lifted its position in Bread Financial by 13.5% in the 1st quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 117,389 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,879,000 after acquiring an additional 13,990 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its stake in Bread Financial by 19.8% during the 1st quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 15,629 shares of the company’s stock valued at $783,000 after purchasing an additional 2,579 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.52% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on BFH. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on Bread Financial from $88.00 to $71.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. TD Cowen increased their price target on Bread Financial from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 24th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Bread Financial from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, August 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Bread Financial from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 24th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Bread Financial in a research report on Wednesday, November 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Bread Financial currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $70.00.

Bread Financial Stock Performance

NYSE BFH opened at $66.79 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.05 billion, a PE ratio of 6.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.50 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a current ratio of 1.19. Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. has a 52-week low of $38.21 and a 52-week high of $68.01. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $60.88 and a 200 day simple moving average of $59.31.

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

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

Bread Financial Increases Dividend

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

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.