Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. $BFH Shares Acquired by Northern Trust Corp

Key Points

• Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in Bread Financial Holdings by 0.9%, acquiring an additional 5,291 shares, bringing its total to 606,546 shares valued at approximately $30.4 million.
• The company recently reported an EPS of $3.14 for the quarter, significantly exceeding analyst expectations, although its revenue fell short of estimates.
• Bread Financial declared a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share, with a planned payout date of September 12th, translating to an annual yield of 1.3%.

Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BFH - Free Report) by 0.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 606,546 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 5,291 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp owned about 1.30% of Bread Financial worth $30,376,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Curat Global LLC bought a new stake in shares of Bread Financial during the 1st quarter valued at about $28,000. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its stake in Bread Financial by 182.8% during the 1st quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,298 shares of the company's stock worth $65,000 after buying an additional 839 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Bread Financial by 28.0% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,457 shares of the company's stock worth $73,000 after purchasing an additional 319 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Bread Financial in the fourth quarter worth approximately $200,000. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers purchased a new stake in shares of Bread Financial in the fourth quarter worth approximately $214,000. Institutional investors own 99.52% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on BFH. BTIG Research set a $105.00 price objective on Bread Financial and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Bread Financial from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a report on Monday, May 12th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on Bread Financial from $65.00 to $74.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Barclays reaffirmed an "underweight" rating and issued a $52.00 target price (up from $45.00) on shares of Bread Financial in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Bread Financial from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, August 9th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued 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 $64.91.

Bread Financial Stock Performance

Shares of Bread Financial stock traded up $1.16 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $67.03. The company had a trading volume of 128,524 shares, compared to its average volume of 809,141. Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $38.21 and a one year high of $67.33. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $61.18 and a 200 day simple moving average of $54.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 1.18 and a quick ratio of 1.18. The firm has a market cap of $3.13 billion, a PE ratio of 11.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 1.46.

Bread Financial (NYSE:BFH - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 24th. The company reported $3.14 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $1.29. Bread Financial had a return on equity of 13.10% and a net margin of 6.05%.The firm had revenue of $929.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $944.69 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.66 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was down 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. Bread Financial has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. will post 6.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bread Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 12th. Investors of record on Friday, August 8th will be given a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 8th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. Bread Financial's dividend payout ratio is 14.21%.

Bread Financial declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, August 27th that allows the company to buyback $0.00 in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director John J. Fawcett acquired 1,027 shares of Bread Financial stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 30th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $61.79 per share, for a total transaction of $63,458.33. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 10,302 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $636,560.58. This trade represents a 11.07% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.62% of the company's stock.

Bread Financial Company 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.