Bread Financial (NYSE:BFH) Reaches New 12-Month High - Here's What Happened

Key Points

• Bread Financial (BFH) stock hit a new 52-week high, trading as high as $91.30 (last $90.85) during mid-day trading.
• The company reported a major quarterly beat—$2.07 EPS vs. $0.40 expected and $975M in revenue—while posting a 17.9% return on equity and analysts forecasting about 6.45 EPS for the fiscal year.
• Board authorized a $600 million share buyback (up to ~19% of shares) and declared a $0.23 quarterly dividend (annualized $0.92, ~1.0% yield), signaling shareholder-return focus.

Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BFH - Get Free Report)'s stock price reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $91.30 and last traded at $90.85, with a volume of 1329256 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $90.58.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BFH has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on Bread Financial from $82.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, January 2nd. Bank of America set a $92.00 price target on Bread Financial and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Bread Financial from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $84.00 price target on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. BTIG Research restated a "buy" rating and set a $98.00 price target on shares of Bread Financial in a report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada set a $90.00 price target on Bread Financial and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Friday, April 10th. One equities research 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 assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Bread Financial has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $83.83.

Bread Financial Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a current ratio of 1.17. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.41, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.11. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $75.03 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $70.70.

Bread Financial (NYSE:BFH - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The company reported $2.07 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 analyst estimates of $954.74 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.41 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. will post 6.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bread Financial Announces Dividend

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

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in BFH. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Bread Financial by 5.6% in the 4th quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 3,535 shares of the company's stock valued at $262,000 after acquiring an additional 187 shares during the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System lifted its holdings in shares of Bread Financial by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 14,527 shares of the company's stock valued at $810,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lifted its holdings in shares of Bread Financial by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 25,186 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,405,000 after acquiring an additional 213 shares during the last quarter. Vista Investment Management lifted its stake in Bread Financial by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Vista Investment Management now owns 22,858 shares of the company's stock worth $1,692,000 after purchasing an additional 241 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LLC lifted its stake in Bread Financial by 6.6% in the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 4,206 shares of the company's stock worth $311,000 after purchasing an additional 259 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.

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