Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BFH) Given Consensus Rating of "Moderate Buy" by Analysts

Key Points

• Bread Financial has a consensus analyst rating of “Moderate Buy” from 15 covering firms, with an average 12-month price target of about $96.42.
• The company reported strong quarterly results, posting $4.18 EPS versus $3.00 expected and revenue of $1.02 billion, while analysts expect full-year EPS of $10.65.
• Insiders have been selling shares, including CEO Ralph J. Andretta and Director Roger H. Ballou, even as institutions remain heavily invested and own 99.52% of the stock.

Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BFH - Get Free Report) has been assigned a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from the fifteen research firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $96.4167.

A number of research firms recently commented on BFH. Evercore reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $99.00 price target on shares of Bread Financial in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Loop Capital initiated coverage on Bread Financial in a report on Thursday, May 21st. They set a "buy" rating and a $104.00 price objective for the company. Weiss Ratings upgraded Bread Financial from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "buy (b)" rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Morgan Stanley set a $98.00 price objective on Bread Financial in a report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their price objective on Bread Financial from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, April 24th.

Insider Transactions at Bread Financial

In other news, CEO Ralph J. Andretta sold 15,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.10, for a total transaction of $1,336,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 582,241 shares in the company, valued at $51,877,673.10. The trade was a 2.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Roger H. Ballou sold 9,687 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.32, for a total value of $874,929.84. Following the sale, the director owned 30,079 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,716,735.28. This represents a 24.36% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 1.30% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Bread Financial

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Millennium Management LLC raised its position in shares of Bread Financial by 223.4% in the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 665,812 shares of the company's stock valued at $49,290,000 after buying an additional 459,916 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in shares of Bread Financial by 241.1% in the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 537,656 shares of the company's stock valued at $30,711,000 after buying an additional 380,039 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position 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 in the last quarter. UBS Group AG raised its position in shares of Bread Financial by 100.4% in the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 716,725 shares of the company's stock valued at $53,059,000 after buying an additional 359,088 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC raised its position in Bread Financial by 899.4% during the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 350,061 shares of the company's stock valued at $26,216,000 after purchasing an additional 315,034 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.52% of the company's stock.

Bread Financial Trading Down 1.3%

Bread Financial stock opened at $101.16 on Wednesday. Bread Financial has a 52 week low of $51.31 and a 52 week high of $105.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 1.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.29, a PEG ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.12. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $87.91 and a 200 day simple moving average of $78.71.

Bread Financial (NYSE:BFH - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The company reported $4.18 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.00 by $1.18. Bread Financial had a return on equity of 18.79% and a net margin of 11.90%.The business had revenue of $1.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $992.05 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.86 earnings per share. Bread Financial's quarterly revenue was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Bread Financial will post 10.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Bread Financial announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Thursday, February 26th that permits the company to buyback $600.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to buy up to 19% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Bread Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 29th were issued a dividend of $0.23 per share. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 29th. Bread Financial's payout ratio is currently 7.53%.

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.

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