Bread Financial (NYSE:BFH) Sets New 1-Year High on Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BFH) reached a new 52-week high on Thursday after Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on the stock from $38.00 to $45.00. Royal Bank of Canada currently has a sector perform rating on the stock. Bread Financial traded as high as $43.28 and last traded at $42.82, with a volume of 118495 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $40.84.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on BFH. Argus cut Bread Financial from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Evercore ISI raised shares of Bread Financial from an “underperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $42.00 to $45.00 in a research note on Thursday. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Bread Financial from $27.00 to $26.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Bread Financial from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, BTIG Research assumed coverage on Bread Financial in a report on Friday, June 7th. They issued a “neutral” rating for the company. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Bread Financial currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $40.92.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Denali Advisors LLC lifted its position in Bread Financial by 46.8% in the 4th quarter. Denali Advisors LLC now owns 153,402 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,053,000 after acquiring an additional 48,900 shares in the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Bread Financial by 14.0% during the fourth quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 807,557 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,601,000 after buying an additional 99,029 shares in the last quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC raised its position in Bread Financial by 10.6% in the 4th quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 528,003 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,392,000 after buying an additional 50,474 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Bread Financial by 5.8% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 672,141 shares of the company’s stock valued at $22,140,000 after buying an additional 37,005 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Bread Financial by 20.0% in the 4th quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 392,260 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,921,000 after acquiring an additional 65,450 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.52% of the company’s stock.

Bread Financial Trading Up 7.9 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a current ratio of 1.18. The stock has a market cap of $2.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.55, a P/E/G ratio of 0.18 and a beta of 1.94. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $39.42 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $36.41.

Bread Financial (NYSE:BFH) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $2.73 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.92 by ($0.19). Bread Financial had a return on equity of 14.44% and a net margin of 8.08%. The business had revenue of $991.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $998.96 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $9.08 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 23.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. will post 5.63 EPS for the current year.

Bread Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 14th. Investors of record on Friday, May 10th were given a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.91%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 9th. Bread Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 10.58%.

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.