Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BFH) Receives Average Rating of "Hold" from Analysts

Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BFH - Get Free Report) has earned a consensus recommendation of "Hold" from the thirteen analysts that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $60.27.

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on BFH. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Bread Financial from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Monday. Compass Point increased their price objective on shares of Bread Financial from $75.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Bread Financial from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Bread Financial from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Bread Financial from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Bread Financial

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Curat Global LLC bought a new stake in Bread Financial during the first quarter valued at about $28,000. Picton Mahoney Asset Management grew its position in Bread Financial by 2,083.3% in the fourth quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 524 shares of the company's stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP grew its position in Bread Financial by 947.5% in the first quarter. Quarry LP now owns 639 shares of the company's stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 578 shares in the last quarter. Pinnacle Holdings LLC purchased a new position in Bread Financial in the fourth quarter worth about $46,000. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its position in shares of Bread Financial by 182.8% during the first quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,298 shares of the company's stock valued at $65,000 after buying an additional 839 shares during the period. 99.52% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Bread Financial Trading Down 1.7%

NYSE BFH traded down $0.96 on Tuesday, reaching $54.33. The company had a trading volume of 1,080,584 shares, compared to its average volume of 878,954. The firm has a market cap of $2.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.79, a P/E/G ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.33. Bread Financial has a fifty-two week low of $38.21 and a fifty-two week high of $66.71. The business has a 50 day moving average of $48.46 and a two-hundred day moving average of $55.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 1.15 and a quick ratio of 1.15.

Bread Financial (NYSE:BFH - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $2.86 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.10 by $0.76. The business had revenue of $970.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $956.17 million. Bread Financial had a net margin of 5.75% and a return on equity of 12.41%. The business's quarterly revenue was down 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.73 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Bread Financial will post 6.45 EPS for the current year.

Bread Financial announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, March 5th that allows the company to buyback $150.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to repurchase up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often an indication that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Bread Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 13th. Investors of record on Friday, May 9th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.55%. Bread Financial's payout ratio is currently 14.92%.

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.