SG Americas Securities LLC Takes Position in Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BFH)

SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new position in Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BFH - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 7,713 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $386,000.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Bread Financial by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,848,495 shares of the company's stock valued at $357,109,000 after purchasing an additional 36,057 shares in the last quarter. Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Bread Financial in the fourth quarter valued at about $104,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its stake in Bread Financial by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 1,452,509 shares of the company's stock valued at $89,299,000 after acquiring an additional 13,679 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in Bread Financial by 6.8% in the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,382,135 shares of the company's stock worth $84,393,000 after purchasing an additional 88,081 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its stake in Bread Financial by 10.7% during the fourth quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 1,241,566 shares of the company's stock worth $75,810,000 after purchasing an additional 120,237 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.52% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BFH has been the topic of several analyst reports. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Bread Financial from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on Bread Financial from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on Bread Financial from $68.00 to $58.00 and set a "sell" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, JMP Securities restated a "market perform" rating on shares of Bread Financial in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $60.27.

Bread Financial Price Performance

Shares of BFH stock traded up $0.42 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $56.98. 1,210,293 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 873,975. Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $38.21 and a fifty-two week high of $66.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 1.17 and a quick ratio of 1.17. The stock's fifty day moving average is $51.55 and its two-hundred day moving average is $54.48. The company has a market cap of $2.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.12, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.37.

Bread Financial (NYSE:BFH - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $2.86 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.10 by $0.76. Bread Financial had a return on equity of 12.60% and a net margin of 5.89%. The company had revenue of $970.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $956.17 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.73 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. will post 6.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bread Financial announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, March 5th that allows the company to buyback $150.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to purchase up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Bread Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 9th were given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 9th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.47%. Bread Financial's payout ratio is presently 14.92%.

Bread Financial Profile

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.