Barclays Issues Positive Forecast for Bread Financial (NYSE:BFH) Stock Price

Bread Financial (NYSE:BFH) had its price objective increased by Barclays from $64.00 to $67.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an underweight rating on the stock.

A number of other equities analysts also recently issued reports on BFH. Bank of America set a $92.00 price objective on Bread Financial and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 11th. Evercore raised Bread Financial from a “hold” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $90.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Bread Financial in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $83.00 target price on shares of Bread Financial in a research note on Monday, January 12th. Finally, Zacks Research cut Bread Financial from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, December 22nd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $81.33.

Bread Financial Stock Up 2.9%

Shares of BFH opened at $75.15 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $3.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.93, a P/E/G ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 1.11. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $73.66 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $69.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 1.17 and a quick ratio of 1.17. Bread Financial has a 1 year low of $38.21 and a 1 year high of $82.03.

Bread Financial (NYSE:BFH) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The company reported $2.07 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.40 by $1.67. Bread Financial had a return on equity of 17.92% and a net margin of 11.02%.The firm had revenue of $975.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $954.74 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.41 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Bread Financial will post 6.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Bread Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 27th were issued a $0.23 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 27th. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.2%. Bread Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.49%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Kemnay Advisory Services Inc. bought a new position in shares of Bread Financial in the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. bought a new position in shares of Bread Financial in the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its stake in shares of Bread Financial by 141.2% in the third quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 562 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 329 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Bread Financial by 127.2% in the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 711 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 398 shares during the period. Finally, Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd raised its stake in shares of Bread Financial by 8,300.0% in the third quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 840 shares of the company’s stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 830 shares during the period. Institutional investors 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.