The Goldman Sachs Group Cuts Bread Financial (NYSE:BFH) Price Target to $58.00

Bread Financial (NYSE:BFH) had its price target lowered by The Goldman Sachs Group from $68.00 to $58.00 in a research report report published on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a sell rating on the stock.

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on BFH. Morgan Stanley raised shares of 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 report on Thursday, December 19th. Compass Point increased their price objective on shares of Bread Financial from $75.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Bread Financial from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Barclays increased 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. Finally, JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Bread Financial in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Bread Financial presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $59.69.

Bread Financial Stock Up 0.0 %

Shares of NYSE:BFH opened at $49.74 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.96. Bread Financial has a 1-year low of $32.10 and a 1-year high of $66.71. The company’s fifty day moving average is $57.44 and its two-hundred day moving average is $56.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 1.15.

Bread Financial (NYSE:BFH) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The company reported $0.41 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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%. Equities analysts anticipate that Bread Financial will post 6.45 EPS for the current year.

Bread Financial declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, March 5th that allows the company to buyback $150.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to buy up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Bread Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.69%. Bread Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.14%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Bread Financial

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Bread Financial by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,848,495 shares of the company’s stock valued at $357,109,000 after purchasing an additional 36,057 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Bread Financial by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,034,554 shares of the company’s stock valued at $96,804,000 after purchasing an additional 41,012 shares in the last quarter. Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Bread Financial during the 4th quarter valued at about $104,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its position in shares of Bread Financial by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 1,452,509 shares of the company’s stock valued at $89,299,000 after purchasing an additional 13,679 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in shares of Bread Financial by 6.8% during the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,382,135 shares of the company’s stock valued at $84,393,000 after purchasing an additional 88,081 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.52% of the company’s stock.

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.