Bread Financial (NYSE:BFH) Cut to “Hold” at Zacks Research

Zacks Research cut shares of Bread Financial (NYSE:BFH) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday,Zacks reports.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Bread Financial in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on Bread Financial in a report on Friday, September 11th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $115.00 price objective for the company. Barclays upped their price objective on Bread Financial from $109.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday. Seaport Research Partners reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $121.00 target price on shares of Bread Financial in a report on Wednesday. Finally, TD Cowen decreased their target price on Bread Financial from $114.00 to $111.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $112.29.

Bread Financial Stock Up 3.0%

BFH stock opened at $100.61 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $106.10 and a 200-day simple moving average of $96.65. The company has a market capitalization of $3.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.85, a PEG ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 1.15. Bread Financial has a twelve month low of $53.83 and a twelve month high of $114.53.

Bread Financial (NYSE:BFH) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The company reported $3.55 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.74 by $0.81. The firm had revenue of $993.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $959.32 million. Bread Financial had a net margin of 11.95% and a return on equity of 18.42%. The firm’s revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.15 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Bread Financial will post 12.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bread Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 15th. Investors of record on Monday, August 31st were paid a dividend of $0.23 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 31st. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. Bread Financial’s dividend payout ratio is 7.18%.

Insider Transactions at Bread Financial

In other Bread Financial news, Director Praniti Lakhwara sold 2,802 shares of Bread Financial stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.12, for a total value of $297,348.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 4,458 shares in the company, valued at $473,082.96. The trade was a 38.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 1.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Bread Financial

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Bread Financial by 5.6% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,056 shares of the company’s stock worth $396,000 after purchasing an additional 214 shares during the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its stake in Bread Financial by 248.6% during the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,172 shares of the company’s stock worth $212,000 after buying an additional 1,549 shares during the last quarter. Argent Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Bread Financial by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Argent Capital Management LLC now owns 12,801 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,251,000 after buying an additional 465 shares during the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. increased its position in Bread Financial by 10.1% in the second quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,127 shares of the company’s stock worth $447,000 after buying an additional 380 shares during the period. Finally, Engineers Gate Manager LP increased its position in Bread Financial by 238.9% in the second quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP now owns 25,470 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,760,000 after buying an additional 17,955 shares during the period. 99.52% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Bread Financial Company Profile

Bread Financial Corporation (NYSE: BFH) is a financial services company that provides payment, lending and savings solutions to consumers and businesses. The company works with merchants and brands to offer private-label and co-branded credit cards, installment loans, buy now, pay later services and other financing options at the point of sale.

Its consumer products and services include Bread Pay payment solutions, credit card programs issued through its banking subsidiaries, and Bread Savings deposit products.