Royce & Associates LP Increases Position in Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BFH)

Royce & Associates LP increased its stake in shares of Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BFH) by 28.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 154,040 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 34,365 shares during the quarter. Royce & Associates LP owned approximately 0.31% of Bread Financial worth $9,406,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its stake in Bread Financial by 4.4% during the 4th quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 4,872 shares of the company’s stock worth $297,000 after buying an additional 206 shares during the last quarter. Savant Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Bread Financial by 5.8% in the fourth quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 5,329 shares of the company’s stock valued at $325,000 after purchasing an additional 290 shares during the period. Highland Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Bread Financial by 6.5% in the fourth quarter. Highland Capital Management LLC now owns 5,734 shares of the company’s stock worth $350,000 after purchasing an additional 350 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Bread Financial by 2.8% during the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 13,421 shares of the company’s stock worth $639,000 after purchasing an additional 369 shares during the period. Finally, Picton Mahoney Asset Management raised its position in Bread Financial by 2,083.3% during the 4th quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 524 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.52% of the company’s stock.

Bread Financial Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:BFH opened at $47.88 on Wednesday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $57.82 and its 200-day moving average price is $56.40. Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $32.10 and a 1 year high of $66.71. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $2.35 billion, a PE ratio of 8.63, a P/E/G ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.96.

Bread Financial (NYSE:BFH) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The company reported $0.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.07. Bread Financial had a net margin of 5.75% and a return on equity of 12.41%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. will post 6.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bread Financial announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, March 5th that authorizes the company to repurchase $150.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to purchase up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Bread Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. Bread Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.14%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of Bread Financial from $67.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Bread Financial in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on Bread Financial from $68.00 to $58.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Bread Financial from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised shares of Bread Financial from an “underweight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $35.00 to $76.00 in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Bread Financial has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $59.69.

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.