Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. $BFH Shares Sold by WINTON GROUP Ltd

Key Points

• WINTON GROUP Ltd trimmed its Bread Financial stake by 10.8% in the fourth quarter, selling 11,625 shares and ending with 95,570 shares valued at about $7.1 million.
• Bread Financial reported better-than-expected quarterly results, with EPS of $4.18 versus the $3.00 estimate and revenue of $1.02 billion, while revenue rose 4.9% year over year.
• The company also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.23 per share and a $600 million share repurchase program, signaling continued capital returns to shareholders.

WINTON GROUP Ltd lessened its stake in Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BFH - Free Report) by 10.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 95,570 shares of the company's stock after selling 11,625 shares during the quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd owned 0.21% of Bread Financial worth $7,075,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew its stake in Bread Financial by 12.2% during the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 209,029 shares of the company's stock valued at $11,658,000 after purchasing an additional 22,745 shares in the last quarter. Brooktree Capital Management grew its stake in Bread Financial by 5.1% during the 3rd quarter. Brooktree Capital Management now owns 164,084 shares of the company's stock valued at $9,151,000 after purchasing an additional 8,002 shares in the last quarter. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in Bread Financial during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $14,090,000. UBS Group AG grew its stake in Bread Financial by 100.4% during the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 716,725 shares of the company's stock valued at $53,059,000 after purchasing an additional 359,088 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its stake in Bread Financial by 38,301.2% during the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 215,815 shares of the company's stock valued at $15,977,000 after purchasing an additional 215,253 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.52% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BFH has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Zacks Research upgraded Bread Financial from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Barclays increased their target price on Bread Financial from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Weiss Ratings raised Bread Financial from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "buy (b)" rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Bank of America set a $92.00 target price on Bread Financial and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 11th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada set a $105.00 target price on Bread Financial in a report on Friday, April 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Bread Financial presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $94.25.

Insider Buying and Selling at Bread Financial

In other Bread Financial news, Director Roger H. Ballou sold 9,687 shares of Bread Financial stock in a transaction on Friday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.32, for a total transaction of $874,929.84. Following the sale, the director owned 30,079 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,716,735.28. The trade was a 24.36% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director John J. Fawcett bought 698 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 21st. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $86.43 per share, for a total transaction of $60,328.14. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 11,000 shares in the company, valued at $950,730. This represents a 6.78% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. 1.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Bread Financial Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of NYSE BFH opened at $91.10 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $3.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.12. Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. has a 12-month low of $50.32 and a 12-month high of $99.13. The company has a current ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $84.44 and its 200 day simple moving average is $76.89.

Bread Financial (NYSE:BFH - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The company reported $4.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.00 by $1.18. The business had revenue of $1.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $992.05 million. Bread Financial had a return on equity of 18.79% and a net margin of 11.90%.The business's revenue was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.86 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. will post 10.59 EPS for the current year.

Bread Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 29th will be paid a dividend of $0.23 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 29th. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. Bread Financial's payout ratio is presently 7.53%.

Bread Financial declared that its board has initiated a share repurchase program on Thursday, February 26th that permits the company to buyback $600.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to repurchase up to 19% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are 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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