Russell Investments Group Ltd. Decreases Stock Holdings in Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. $BFH

Key Points

• Russell Investments Group Ltd. reduced its holdings in Bread Financial by 8.4%, bringing its stake to 186,305 shares valued at approximately $9.33 million.
• Bread Financial reported $3.14 EPS for the quarter, significantly exceeding estimates, with a revenue of $929 million, slightly below expectations.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share, with a record date of August 8th, representing a 1.4% dividend yield.

Russell Investments Group Ltd. lowered its stake in Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BFH - Free Report) by 8.4% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 186,305 shares of the company's stock after selling 17,071 shares during the quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. owned 0.40% of Bread Financial worth $9,330,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Curat Global LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Bread Financial in the first quarter worth approximately $28,000. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted 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 purchasing an additional 839 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Bread Financial by 28.0% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,457 shares of the company's stock worth $73,000 after buying an additional 319 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Bread Financial in the fourth quarter valued at about $200,000. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers acquired a new stake in shares of Bread Financial in the fourth quarter valued at about $214,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.52% of the company's stock.

Bread Financial Price Performance

BFH opened at $60.26 on Tuesday. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $58.73 and its 200 day moving average price is $54.03. Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. has a 12-month low of $38.21 and a 12-month high of $66.71. The firm has a market cap of $2.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.20, a PEG ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a current ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

Bread Financial (NYSE:BFH - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The company reported $3.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $1.29. The business had revenue of $929.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $944.69 million. Bread Financial had a net margin of 6.05% and a return on equity of 13.10%. The business's quarterly revenue was down 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.66 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect 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 will be paid on Friday, September 12th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 8th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 8th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.4%. Bread Financial's payout ratio is 14.21%.

Insider Activity at Bread Financial

In related news, Director John J. Fawcett acquired 1,027 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 30th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $61.79 per share, with a total value of $63,458.33. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 10,302 shares of the company's stock, valued at $636,560.58. The trade was a 11.07% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.62% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BFH has been the subject of several research reports. BTIG Research set a $105.00 price objective on shares of Bread Financial and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, July 14th. JMP Securities restated a "market perform" rating on shares of Bread Financial in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Bread Financial from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th. Barclays restated 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. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $64.42.

About Bread Financial

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.

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