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

Shares of Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BFH) have received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the fifteen ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $70.00.

Several analysts recently issued reports on BFH shares. Morgan Stanley set a $55.00 price target on shares of Bread Financial and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 24th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Bread Financial from $64.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Bread Financial from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 9th. Zacks Research upgraded Bread Financial from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Bread Financial from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 24th.

Bread Financial Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BFH opened at $63.49 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. Bread Financial has a fifty-two week low of $38.21 and a fifty-two week high of $68.01. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $61.34 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $58.04. The firm has a market cap of $2.90 billion, a PE ratio of 6.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.50 and a beta of 1.51.

Bread Financial (NYSE:BFH) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 23rd. The company reported $4.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.11 by $1.91. Bread Financial had a return on equity of 15.97% and a net margin of 10.08%.The company had revenue of $971.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $974.30 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.83 EPS. Bread Financial’s quarterly revenue was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. Bread Financial has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Bread Financial will post 6.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bread Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 7th will be issued a $0.23 dividend. This is a positive change from Bread Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 7th. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.4%. Bread Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.37%.

Bread Financial announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, August 27th that allows the company to buyback $0.00 in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Curat Global LLC grew its position in shares of Bread Financial by 81,068.5% during the 2nd quarter. Curat Global LLC now owns 450,485 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,732,000 after buying an additional 449,930 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in Bread Financial by 45.0% in the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,320,418 shares of the company’s stock valued at $66,127,000 after acquiring an additional 409,877 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its stake in Bread Financial by 241.1% in the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 537,656 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,711,000 after acquiring an additional 380,039 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Allianz Asset Management GmbH raised its position in shares of Bread Financial by 44.5% during the 3rd quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 943,659 shares of the company’s stock worth $52,628,000 after purchasing an additional 290,803 shares during the period. 99.52% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.