Pzena Investment Management LLC Reduces Stock Position in Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BFH)

Pzena Investment Management LLC lowered its stake in shares of Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BFH) by 18.0% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 722,139 shares of the company’s stock after selling 158,688 shares during the period. Pzena Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Bread Financial were worth $44,094,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Bread Financial by 2.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,034,554 shares of the company’s stock worth $96,804,000 after acquiring an additional 41,012 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Bread Financial by 1.2% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,155,989 shares of the company’s stock worth $55,012,000 after buying an additional 13,459 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Bread Financial by 30.2% in the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 1,121,329 shares of the company’s stock worth $53,353,000 after buying an additional 260,283 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Bread Financial by 1.9% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 730,531 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,759,000 after buying an additional 13,484 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allianz Asset Management GmbH raised its position in shares of Bread Financial by 44.5% in the fourth quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 474,660 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,983,000 after buying an additional 146,244 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.52% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on BFH shares. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Bread Financial from $52.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Bread Financial from $67.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Barclays increased their price objective on Bread Financial from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley upgraded Bread Financial from an “underweight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $35.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Bread Financial from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $59.69.

Bread Financial Stock Down 4.2 %

Shares of NYSE:BFH opened at $46.62 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $59.36 and its 200-day moving average price is $56.79. Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. has a 12-month low of $32.10 and a 12-month high of $66.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.96. The company has a current ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33.

Bread Financial (NYSE:BFH) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The company reported $0.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.07. Bread Financial had a return on equity of 12.41% and a net margin of 5.75%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. will post 6.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Bread Financial declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Wednesday, March 5th that authorizes the company to buyback $150.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to repurchase up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Bread Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.80%. Bread Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 15.14%.

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.