Bread Financial (NYSE:BFH) Issues Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $1.91 EPS

Bread Financial (NYSE:BFH) announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday. The company reported $4.02 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.11 by $1.91, Zacks reports. The firm had revenue of $971.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $974.30 million. Bread Financial had a return on equity of 13.10% and a net margin of 6.05%.The company’s revenue was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.83 earnings per share. Bread Financial updated its FY 2025 guidance to EPS.

Bread Financial Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BFH opened at $65.29 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 1.18 and a quick ratio of 1.18. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $61.05 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $56.49. Bread Financial has a one year low of $38.21 and a one year high of $68.01. The firm has a market cap of $3.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.05, a P/E/G ratio of 0.55 and a beta of 1.41.

Bread Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 12th. Investors of record on Friday, November 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.23 per share. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 7th. This is a boost from Bread Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. Bread Financial’s payout ratio is presently 14.21%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director John J. Fawcett acquired 1,027 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 30th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $61.79 per share, with a total value of $63,458.33. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 10,302 shares in the company, valued at $636,560.58. This represents a 11.07% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.85% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Bread Financial

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Bread Financial by 104.8% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 736,604 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,889,000 after acquiring an additional 376,920 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its position in shares of Bread Financial by 241.1% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 537,656 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,711,000 after acquiring an additional 380,039 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its position in shares of Bread Financial by 9.7% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 364,276 shares of the company’s stock valued at $20,807,000 after acquiring an additional 32,086 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Bread Financial by 46.5% during the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 345,902 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,323,000 after acquiring an additional 109,864 shares during the period. Finally, Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. lifted its position in shares of Bread Financial by 73.6% during the 2nd quarter. Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. now owns 308,964 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,648,000 after acquiring an additional 130,939 shares during the period. 99.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on BFH. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Bread Financial from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 29th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on Bread Financial from $65.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Wall Street Zen cut Bread Financial from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on Bread Financial from $88.00 to $71.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on Bread Financial from $52.00 to $50.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 6th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $66.20.

Bread Financial declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, August 27th that permits the company to repurchase $0.00 in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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.