Bread Financial (NYSE:BFH) Shares Gap Up to $35.39

Shares of Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BFH - Get Free Report) gapped up prior to trading on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $35.39, but opened at $36.76. Bread Financial shares last traded at $36.27, with a volume of 59,250 shares.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on BFH. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Bread Financial from $28.00 to $27.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Bread Financial from $27.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock a "sell" rating in a report on Monday, December 18th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating and issued a $36.00 price objective on shares of Bread Financial in a report on Friday, January 26th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Bread Financial from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $48.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday. Finally, Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Bread Financial from an "equal weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and cut their price target for the company from $31.00 to $25.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 13th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Bread Financial has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $36.08.

Bread Financial Trading Up 0.6 %

The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $36.87 and a 200-day simple moving average of $32.86. The company has a current ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The stock has a market cap of $1.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 2.49, a P/E/G ratio of 0.17 and a beta of 1.93.

Bread Financial (NYSE:BFH - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The company reported $0.90 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.67) by $1.57. The company had revenue of $1,000.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $984.36 million. Bread Financial had a return on equity of 26.24% and a net margin of 13.87%. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($2.68) EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. will post 7.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bread Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 9th were issued a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 8th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.36%. Bread Financial's dividend payout ratio is 5.87%.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder Turtle Creek Asset Management sold 30,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.86, for a total value of $895,800.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 304,769 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,100,402.34. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders have sold 255,000 shares of company stock worth $8,280,400 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.20% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Bread Financial

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Quadrature Capital Ltd grew its stake in shares of Bread Financial by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 25,993 shares of the company's stock valued at $856,000 after buying an additional 611 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in Bread Financial by 7.8% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,107,253 shares of the company's stock worth $69,413,000 after purchasing an additional 152,954 shares during the period. Sierra Summit Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Bread Financial during the fourth quarter worth approximately $220,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in Bread Financial by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 31,926 shares of the company's stock worth $1,052,000 after purchasing an additional 786 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC boosted its position in Bread Financial by 257.6% during the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 92,241 shares of the company's stock worth $3,039,000 after purchasing an additional 150,762 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 99.52% of the company's stock.

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.