Bayforest Capital Ltd Sells 11,408 Shares of Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. $BFH

Bayforest Capital Ltd reduced its holdings in shares of Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BFH) by 65.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,017 shares of the company’s stock after selling 11,408 shares during the quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd’s holdings in Bread Financial were worth $445,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Bread Financial by 0.6% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,273,797 shares of the company’s stock valued at $294,120,000 after buying an additional 30,962 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Bread Financial by 0.5% in the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,076,004 shares of the company’s stock valued at $171,557,000 after buying an additional 16,143 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in shares of Bread Financial by 4.4% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,555,968 shares of the company’s stock valued at $86,776,000 after buying an additional 65,223 shares during the period. Allianz Asset Management GmbH raised its stake 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 valued at $52,628,000 after buying an additional 290,803 shares during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Bread Financial by 104.8% in the first 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 during the period. 99.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Bread Financial Stock Performance

NYSE:BFH opened at $90.88 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a current ratio of 1.17. Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. has a 52-week low of $44.88 and a 52-week high of $91.30. The firm has a market cap of $3.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.38, a PEG ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.11. The business’s fifty day moving average is $75.03 and its 200 day moving average is $70.59.

Bread Financial (NYSE:BFH) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The company reported $2.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by $1.67. Bread Financial had a return on equity of 17.92% and a net margin of 11.02%.The company had revenue of $975.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $954.74 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.41 EPS. Research analysts predict that Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. will post 6.45 EPS for the current year.

Bread Financial declared that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Thursday, February 26th that allows the company to buyback $600.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to purchase up to 19% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Bread Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 16th. Investors of record on Friday, February 27th were given a dividend of $0.23 per share. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 27th. Bread Financial’s payout ratio is presently 8.49%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on BFH. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Bread Financial in a research note on Friday, March 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Bread Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $84.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 6th. Barclays boosted their target price on Bread Financial from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on Bread Financial from $82.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 2nd. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Bread Financial from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $83.83.

Bread Financial Company Profile

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.