Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BFH) Shares Acquired by Harbor Capital Advisors Inc.

Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BFH - Free Report) by 36.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 18,847 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 5,028 shares during the quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Bread Financial were worth $944,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Curat Global LLC bought a new position in Bread Financial in the first quarter valued at about $28,000. Picton Mahoney Asset Management grew its holdings in shares of Bread Financial by 2,083.3% during the fourth quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 524 shares of the company's stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. Pinnacle Holdings LLC bought a new stake in shares of Bread Financial during the fourth quarter worth about $46,000. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its stake in shares of Bread Financial by 182.8% in the first quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,298 shares of the company's stock worth $65,000 after acquiring an additional 839 shares during the period. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Bread Financial by 207.7% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,394 shares of the company's stock worth $86,000 after acquiring an additional 941 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.52% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Bread Financial Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:BFH traded down $2.86 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $50.72. The company had a trading volume of 623,795 shares, compared to its average volume of 878,623. Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. has a twelve month low of $38.21 and a twelve month high of $66.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 1.15 and a quick ratio of 1.15. The stock has a market cap of $2.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.37. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $49.67 and its 200-day simple moving average is $55.09.

Bread Financial (NYSE:BFH - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $2.86 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.10 by $0.76. The business had revenue of $970.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $956.17 million. Bread Financial had a return on equity of 12.41% and a net margin of 5.75%. The company's quarterly revenue was down 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.73 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. will post 6.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Bread Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 9th were paid a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 9th. Bread Financial's dividend payout ratio is presently 14.92%.

Bread Financial announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Wednesday, March 5th that allows the company to repurchase $150.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

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.