Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Purchases New Stake in Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BFH)

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BFH - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 28,408 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,735,000. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. owned 0.06% of Bread Financial as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Picton Mahoney Asset Management boosted its holdings in shares of Bread Financial by 2,083.3% in the fourth quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 524 shares of the company's stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares during the period. Pinnacle Holdings LLC bought a new position in shares of Bread Financial in the fourth quarter worth $46,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings 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. KBC Group NV boosted its holdings in shares of Bread Financial by 36.1% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,103 shares of the company's stock worth $128,000 after acquiring an additional 558 shares during the period. Finally, Choreo LLC bought a new position in shares of Bread Financial in the fourth quarter worth $201,000. Institutional investors own 99.52% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Bread Financial Price Performance

BFH stock traded down $0.59 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $51.32. The company had a trading volume of 719,741 shares, compared to its average volume of 871,873. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 1.15 and a quick ratio of 1.15. Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $38.21 and a 1 year high of $66.71. The company has a market capitalization of $2.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.25, a P/E/G ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.33. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $49.05 and a 200-day moving average price of $55.43.

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 analysts' consensus estimates of $2.10 by $0.76. Bread Financial had a net margin of 5.75% and a return on equity of 12.41%. The business had revenue of $970.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $956.17 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.73 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was down 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. will post 6.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bread Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 9th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 9th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.64%. Bread Financial's payout ratio is 14.92%.

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