Wakefield Asset Management LLLP Takes Position in Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. $BFH

Wakefield Asset Management LLLP purchased a new stake in Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BFH) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 16,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,227,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. AlphaQuest LLC bought a new position in shares of Bread Financial in the 3rd quarter valued at $1,620,000. Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew its position in Bread Financial by 12.2% during the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 209,029 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,658,000 after acquiring an additional 22,745 shares during the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH grew its position in Bread Financial by 44.5% during the 3rd quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 943,659 shares of the company’s stock worth $52,628,000 after acquiring an additional 290,803 shares during the last quarter. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC grew its position in Bread Financial by 11.5% during the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC now owns 363,445 shares of the company’s stock worth $20,269,000 after acquiring an additional 37,466 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC grew its position in Bread Financial by 748.3% during the 3rd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 17,347 shares of the company’s stock worth $967,000 after acquiring an additional 15,302 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.52% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BFH has been the topic of a number of research reports. Zacks Research upgraded Bread Financial from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $105.00 price objective on Bread Financial in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Bread Financial from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. BTIG Research boosted their price objective on Bread Financial from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Bread Financial from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $93.36.

Bread Financial Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of BFH opened at $86.89 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.51 billion, a PE ratio of 7.12, a PEG ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 1.12. Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $49.17 and a 12 month high of $99.13. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $79.83 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $74.27. 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 (NYSE:BFH) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The company reported $4.18 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.00 by $1.18. The firm had revenue of $1.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $992.05 million. Bread Financial had a return on equity of 18.79% and a net margin of 11.90%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.86 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. will post 10.59 EPS for the current year.

Bread Financial Announces Dividend

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

Bread Financial declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Thursday, February 26th that allows the company to repurchase $600.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to purchase up to 19% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Roger H. Ballou sold 9,687 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.32, for a total value of $874,929.84. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 30,079 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,716,735.28. The trade was a 24.36% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 1.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Bread Financial Company Profile

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.