First Trust Advisors LP Reduces Position in Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BFH)

First Trust Advisors LP reduced its position in shares of Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BFH - Free Report) by 26.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 90,100 shares of the company's stock after selling 32,708 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP owned approximately 0.18% of Bread Financial worth $5,502,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in BFH. Marshall Wace LLP bought a new position in shares of Bread Financial during the fourth quarter valued at about $200,000. Mariner LLC raised its position in Bread Financial by 15.0% during the 4th quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 7,544 shares of the company's stock valued at $461,000 after purchasing an additional 985 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in Bread Financial by 3,844.5% in the 4th quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 87,696 shares of the company's stock worth $5,355,000 after buying an additional 90,038 shares during the period. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Bread Financial by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 5,202 shares of the company's stock worth $318,000 after buying an additional 184 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sterling Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Bread Financial by 11.1% during the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 14,005 shares of the company's stock valued at $855,000 after buying an additional 1,395 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.52% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on BFH shares. 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 report on Thursday, April 24th. Compass Point boosted their price objective on shares of Bread Financial from $75.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price 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. Morgan Stanley set a $36.00 price target on Bread Financial and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Bread Financial from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Three 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, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $60.00.

Bread Financial Stock Performance

Shares of Bread Financial stock traded down $0.21 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $48.70. 59,368 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 878,397. Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $38.21 and a 1 year high of $66.71. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $48.22 and a 200-day simple moving average of $55.65. 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 capitalization of $2.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.81, a PEG ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.33.

Bread Financial (NYSE:BFH - Get Free Report) last announced 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 firm had revenue of $970.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $956.17 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.73 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. will post 6.45 EPS for the current year.

Bread Financial announced that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Wednesday, March 5th that permits the company to buyback $150.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to repurchase up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Bread Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 13th. Investors of record on Friday, May 9th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.73%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 9th. Bread Financial's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 14.92%.

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.