Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. $BFH Position Boosted by Vanguard Group Inc.

Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BFH) by 0.6% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,273,797 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 30,962 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 11.55% of Bread Financial worth $294,120,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Bank of America Corp DE grew its holdings in shares of Bread Financial by 241.1% during the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 537,656 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,711,000 after purchasing an additional 380,039 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Bread Financial by 104.8% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 736,604 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,889,000 after purchasing an additional 376,920 shares in the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH increased its stake in Bread Financial by 44.5% during the 3rd quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 943,659 shares of the company’s stock valued at $52,628,000 after buying an additional 290,803 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Bread Financial during the 2nd quarter worth about $16,599,000. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Bread Financial by 16.9% in the second quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,720,613 shares of the company’s stock valued at $98,281,000 after acquiring an additional 248,401 shares in the last quarter. 99.52% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BFH has been the topic of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Bread Financial from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Bread Financial from $85.00 to $88.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Bread Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $84.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th. Evercore raised shares of Bread Financial from a “hold” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $90.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $83.00 target price on shares of Bread Financial in a report on Monday, January 12th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $80.09.

Bread Financial Stock Performance

NYSE:BFH opened at $70.87 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.06 billion, a PE ratio of 6.54, a PEG ratio of 0.50 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $38.21 and a 1 year high of $82.03. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $74.25 and its 200 day simple moving average is $67.43.

Bread Financial (NYSE:BFH) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The company reported $2.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.40 by $1.67. The business had revenue of $975.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $954.74 million. Bread Financial had a net margin of 11.02% and a return on equity of 17.92%. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.41 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. will post 6.45 EPS for the current year.

Bread Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Investors of record on Friday, February 27th will be given a $0.23 dividend. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 27th. Bread Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.49%.

Bread Financial declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Thursday, February 26th that authorizes the company to buyback $600.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to repurchase up to 19% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

About Bread Financial

Bread Financial, formerly known as Alliance Data Systems, is a Columbus, Ohio–based financial services company that specializes in providing private label credit programs, co-brand credit cards and digital payment solutions for retail partners. The company designs, issues and services proprietary credit products, enabling merchants to offer branded financing options that drive customer loyalty and increase basket sizes at the point of sale. Through its Bread technology platform, Bread Financial delivers installment-based payment options that integrate directly into e-commerce and in-store checkout experiences.

In addition to its core credit offerings, Bread Financial provides analytics, marketing and loyalty services to help merchants better understand consumer behavior and optimize promotional strategies.