Share Buyback Plan Declared by Bread Financial (NYSE:BFH)

Key Points

• Bread Financial's Board of Directors approved a $200 million stock repurchase plan, allowing them to buy back up to 7.1% of its shares, indicating management believes the stock is undervalued.
• Analysts have mixed views on the stock, with ratings ranging from Buy to Sell, and a consensus target price of $66.20.
• The company reported earnings per share of $4.02 for the latest quarter, significantly exceeding the consensus estimate of $2.11, despite a 1.2% decline in revenue year-over-year.

Bread Financial (NYSE:BFH - Get Free Report) declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, October 23rd, RTT News reports. The company plans to buyback $200.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to reacquire up to 7.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on BFH. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Bread Financial from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, August 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on shares of Bread Financial from $88.00 to $71.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Bread Financial from $52.00 to $50.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 6th. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on shares of Bread Financial from $68.00 to $64.00 and set an "in-line" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, September 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a "hold (c+)" rating on shares of Bread Financial in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $66.20.

Bread Financial Trading Up 7.8%

Shares of NYSE:BFH traded up $4.75 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $65.29. 2,355,794 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 726,889. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $61.05 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $56.49. Bread Financial has a fifty-two week low of $38.21 and a fifty-two week high of $68.01. The stock has a market cap of $3.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.05, a P/E/G ratio of 0.55 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 1.18 and a quick ratio of 1.18.

Bread Financial (NYSE:BFH - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 23rd. The company reported $4.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.11 by $1.91. Bread Financial had a return on equity of 13.10% and a net margin of 6.05%.The business's revenue for the quarter was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.83 earnings per share. Bread Financial has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Bread Financial will post 6.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director John J. Fawcett purchased 1,027 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 acquisition, the director owned 10,302 shares in the company, valued at approximately $636,560.58. This trade represents a 11.07% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.85% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.

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