Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BFH) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BFH) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the seventeen analysts that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, nine have issued a hold recommendation and six have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $55.14.

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on Bread Financial from $67.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Bank of America cut their price target on shares of Bread Financial from $61.00 to $57.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of Bread Financial from $52.00 to $54.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Bread Financial from an “underweight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $35.00 to $76.00 in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Bread Financial from $52.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th.

Bread Financial Stock Down 3.2 %

BFH stock opened at $57.37 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $2.85 billion, a PE ratio of 9.14 and a beta of 1.94. Bread Financial has a one year low of $28.00 and a one year high of $66.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 1.19. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $60.43 and its 200-day moving average price is $54.01.

Bread Financial (NYSE:BFH) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $1.83 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.86 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $983.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $981.26 million. Bread Financial had a net margin of 6.37% and a return on equity of 13.33%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.46 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Bread Financial will post 7.5 EPS for the current year.

Bread Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 8th were issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.46%. Bread Financial’s payout ratio is currently 13.38%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director John J. Fawcett bought 1,000 shares of Bread Financial stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $51.02 per share, with a total value of $51,020.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 6,473 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $330,252.46. This trade represents a 18.27 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.62% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Bread Financial

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Natixis Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Bread Financial during the second quarter worth $582,000. CIBC Asset Management Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Bread Financial in the 2nd quarter worth $211,000. Rhumbline Advisers boosted its holdings in shares of Bread Financial by 14.8% in the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 188,802 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,413,000 after acquiring an additional 24,313 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc acquired a new position in shares of Bread Financial during the second quarter worth about $428,000. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI raised its holdings in Bread Financial by 70.3% during the second quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 1,938 shares of the company’s stock worth $88,000 after purchasing an additional 800 shares in the last quarter. 99.52% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.