Assetmark Inc. Purchases 35,715 Shares of Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. $BFH

Key Points

• Assetmark Inc. increased its stake in Bread Financial by 31.4% in Q4, purchasing an additional 35,715 shares to own 149,546 shares (about 0.33% of the company) valued at $11,071,000.
• Bread Financial beat quarterly expectations with $2.07 EPS (vs. $0.40 expected) on $975 million revenue, and its board authorized a $600 million buyback (up to 19% of shares) while paying a quarterly dividend of $0.23 (~1.0% yield).
• Analyst sentiment is mixed: the consensus rating is "Hold" with a target price of $83.83, based on 6 Buy, 7 Hold and 2 Sell ratings.

Assetmark Inc. lifted its position in shares of Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BFH - Free Report) by 31.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 149,546 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 35,715 shares during the quarter. Assetmark Inc. owned 0.33% of Bread Financial worth $11,071,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Bank of America Corp DE grew its position in 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 purchasing an additional 380,039 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its stake in 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. Allianz Asset Management GmbH raised its stake in Bread Financial by 44.5% in the 3rd quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 943,659 shares of the company's stock worth $52,628,000 after purchasing an additional 290,803 shares in the last quarter. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in Bread Financial in the 3rd quarter worth about $14,090,000. Finally, Qube Research & Technologies Ltd raised its position in shares of Bread Financial by 395.8% in the 3rd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 274,953 shares of the company's stock valued at $15,334,000 after buying an additional 219,501 shares in the last quarter. 99.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently commented on BFH shares. Bank of America set a $92.00 target price on shares of Bread Financial and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 11th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Bread Financial from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, February 21st. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Bread Financial from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, December 22nd. Weiss Ratings restated a "buy (b-)" rating on shares of Bread Financial in a report on Friday, March 27th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada set a $90.00 target price on shares of Bread Financial and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Friday, April 10th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Bread Financial currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $83.83.

Bread Financial Stock Performance

Shares of BFH stock opened at $90.88 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $3.76 billion, a PE ratio of 8.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.11. The company's fifty day moving average price is $75.03 and its 200-day moving average price is $70.49. Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $44.88 and a 12 month high of $91.30. The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27.

Bread Financial (NYSE:BFH - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The company reported $2.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.40 by $1.67. The company had revenue of $975.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $954.74 million. Bread Financial had a net margin of 11.02% and a return on equity of 17.92%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.41 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. will post 6.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bread Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 16th. Investors of record on Friday, February 27th were issued a $0.23 dividend. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 27th. Bread Financial's dividend payout ratio is currently 8.49%.

Bread Financial announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Thursday, February 26th that permits the company to repurchase $600.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to purchase up to 19% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Bread Financial 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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