Northern Trust Corp Purchases 65,138 Shares of Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BFH)

Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BFH - Free Report) by 12.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 601,255 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 65,138 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp owned 1.21% of Bread Financial worth $36,713,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Bread Financial by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,848,495 shares of the company's stock valued at $357,109,000 after purchasing an additional 36,057 shares during the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its holdings in Bread Financial by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 1,452,509 shares of the company's stock valued at $89,299,000 after purchasing an additional 13,679 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in Bread Financial by 6.8% during the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,382,135 shares of the company's stock worth $84,393,000 after purchasing an additional 88,081 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Bread Financial by 31.1% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,207,404 shares of the company's stock valued at $73,724,000 after buying an additional 286,720 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allianz Asset Management GmbH lifted its stake in shares of Bread Financial by 44.5% during the 4th quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 474,660 shares of the company's stock valued at $28,983,000 after buying an additional 146,244 shares in the last quarter. 99.52% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on BFH shares. Barclays increased their target price on Bread Financial from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Compass Point raised their target price on Bread Financial from $75.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target 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. Jefferies Financial Group raised 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. Finally, JMP Securities reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of Bread Financial in a report on Monday, April 28th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Bread Financial currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $60.27.

Bread Financial Price Performance

Shares of BFH traded up $1.37 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $55.37. The stock had a trading volume of 817,400 shares, compared to its average volume of 879,807. The business has a fifty day moving average of $48.05 and a 200 day moving average of $55.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 1.15. The firm has a market cap of $2.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.98, a PEG ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.33. Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $38.21 and a 12 month high of $66.71.

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

Bread Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 9th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.52%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 9th. Bread Financial's dividend payout ratio is 14.92%.

Bread Financial announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Wednesday, March 5th that authorizes the company to repurchase $150.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to repurchase up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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.