John Fawcett Acquires 698 Shares of Bread Financial (NYSE:BFH) Stock

Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BFH) Director John Fawcett purchased 698 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 21st. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $86.43 per share, for a total transaction of $60,328.14. Following the acquisition, the director owned 11,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $950,730. The trade was a 6.78% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

Bread Financial Trading Up 0.9%

Shares of BFH opened at $86.54 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $81.12 and its 200-day moving average price is $75.06. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.09, a PEG ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a current ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. has a 1-year low of $49.17 and a 1-year high of $99.13.

Bread Financial (NYSE:BFH) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The company reported $4.18 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.00 by $1.18. The firm had revenue of $1.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $992.05 million. Bread Financial had a net margin of 11.90% and a return on equity of 18.79%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.86 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. will post 10.59 EPS for the current year.

Bread Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 29th will be paid a dividend of $0.23 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 29th. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. Bread Financial’s payout ratio is presently 7.53%.

Bread Financial announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Thursday, February 26th that authorizes the company to buyback $600.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to reacquire up to 19% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BFH has been the topic of a number of research reports. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Bread Financial from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $99.00 target price on shares of Bread Financial in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Bread Financial from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of Bread Financial from $100.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Bread Financial from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $94.25.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of BFH. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its position in Bread Financial by 4.5% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 29,589 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,482,000 after acquiring an additional 1,286 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC raised its holdings in Bread Financial by 46.5% in the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 345,902 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,323,000 after buying an additional 109,864 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in Bread Financial by 104.8% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 736,604 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,889,000 after buying an additional 376,920 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its holdings in Bread Financial by 3.0% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 157,833 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,904,000 after buying an additional 4,624 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Strs Ohio purchased a new position in Bread Financial in the first quarter worth about $65,000. 99.52% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Bread Financial

Bread Financial, formerly known as Alliance Data Systems, is a Columbus, Ohio–based financial services company that specializes in providing private label credit programs, co-brand credit cards and digital payment solutions for retail partners. The company designs, issues and services proprietary credit products, enabling merchants to offer branded financing options that drive customer loyalty and increase basket sizes at the point of sale. Through its Bread technology platform, Bread Financial delivers installment-based payment options that integrate directly into e-commerce and in-store checkout experiences.

In addition to its core credit offerings, Bread Financial provides analytics, marketing and loyalty services to help merchants better understand consumer behavior and optimize promotional strategies.