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

Shares of Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BFH - Get Free Report) have been assigned a consensus rating of "Hold" from the twelve research firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $60.27.

Several equities analysts have weighed in on BFH shares. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Bread Financial from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on Bread Financial from $68.00 to $58.00 and set a "sell" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Bread Financial from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a report on Monday, May 12th. Finally, JMP Securities reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of Bread Financial in a research report on Monday, April 28th.

Institutional Trading of Bread Financial

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC boosted its position in shares of Bread Financial by 17.8% in the 1st quarter. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC now owns 27,584 shares of the company's stock worth $1,381,000 after purchasing an additional 4,163 shares in the last quarter. Strs Ohio bought a new stake in shares of Bread Financial in the 1st quarter worth approximately $65,000. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its position in shares of Bread Financial by 3.0% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 157,833 shares of the company's stock worth $7,904,000 after purchasing an additional 4,624 shares in the last quarter. Optimize Financial Inc bought a new stake in shares of Bread Financial in the 1st quarter worth approximately $371,000. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Bread Financial by 104.8% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 736,604 shares of the company's stock worth $36,889,000 after purchasing an additional 376,920 shares in the last quarter. 99.52% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Bread Financial Stock Performance

Shares of BFH opened at $51.60 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The company has a market capitalization of $2.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.30, a PEG ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.37. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $49.08 and a 200 day moving average of $55.22. Bread Financial has a 12 month low of $38.21 and a 12 month high of $66.71.

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. Bread Financial had a return on equity of 12.41% and a net margin of 5.75%. The company had revenue of $970.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $956.17 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.73 earnings per share. Bread Financial's revenue was down 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Bread Financial will post 6.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Bread Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 9th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.63%. Bread Financial's payout ratio is 14.92%.

Bread Financial announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, March 5th that permits the company to buyback $150.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to repurchase up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.