Legal & General Group Plc Sells 1,768 Shares of Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BFH)

Legal & General Group Plc reduced its stake in Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BFH) by 1.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 147,939 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,768 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc owned about 0.30% of Bread Financial worth $9,033,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Picton Mahoney Asset Management increased its stake in shares of Bread Financial by 2,083.3% in the fourth 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 period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Bread Financial by 207.7% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,394 shares of the company’s stock worth $86,000 after purchasing an additional 941 shares during the period. KBC Group NV grew its stake in shares of Bread Financial by 36.1% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,103 shares of the company’s stock worth $128,000 after purchasing an additional 558 shares during the last quarter. Choreo LLC purchased a new position in Bread Financial during the 4th quarter valued at about $201,000. Finally, Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. bought a new position in Bread Financial during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $201,000. Institutional investors own 99.52% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley lowered Bread Financial from an “overweight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $33.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Monday, April 7th. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Bread Financial in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Bread Financial from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on shares of Bread Financial from $68.00 to $58.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Bread Financial from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $57.08.

Bread Financial Trading Up 1.9 %

NYSE BFH opened at $46.76 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $50.99 and its 200-day moving average price is $55.71. The company has a current ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The stock has a market cap of $2.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.43, a P/E/G ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.58. Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $32.25 and a 12 month high of $66.71.

Bread Financial (NYSE:BFH) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The company reported $0.41 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 analysts forecast that Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. will post 6.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bread Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were given a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.80%. Bread Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.14%.

Bread Financial declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Wednesday, March 5th that allows the company to repurchase $150.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to buy up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Bread Financial 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.