Bread Financial (NYSE:BFH) Downgraded by Wall Street Zen to “Hold”

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Bread Financial (NYSE:BFH) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday,Wall Street Zen reports.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on the stock. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Bread Financial from $120.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Bread Financial from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 6th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Bread Financial from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $130.00 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 25th. Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on Bread Financial in a research report on Friday, September 11th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $115.00 price target on the stock. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Bread Financial from $94.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $112.29.

Bread Financial Price Performance

BFH opened at $100.79 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The company has a market cap of $3.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 1.15. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $105.96 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $96.68. Bread Financial has a 12-month low of $53.83 and a 12-month high of $114.53.

Bread Financial (NYSE:BFH) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The company reported $3.55 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.74 by $0.81. The firm had revenue of $993.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $959.32 million. Bread Financial had a net margin of 11.95% and a return on equity of 18.42%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.15 EPS. Research analysts predict that Bread Financial will post 12.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bread Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 31st were paid a $0.23 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 31st. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Bread Financial’s payout ratio is currently 7.18%.

Insider Activity at Bread Financial

In other news, Director Praniti Lakhwara sold 2,802 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.12, for a total transaction of $297,348.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 4,458 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $473,082.96. The trade was a 38.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 1.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Bread Financial

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its holdings in shares of Bread Financial by 5,814.5% in the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 17,566 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,315,000 after buying an additional 17,269 shares during the last quarter. Walleye Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Bread Financial during the second quarter valued at approximately $9,903,000. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in Bread Financial during the second quarter valued at approximately $421,314,000. Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in Bread Financial by 18.1% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 630,225 shares of the company’s stock worth $47,198,000 after acquiring an additional 96,771 shares during the period. Finally, Quantinno Capital Management LP raised its position in Bread Financial by 66.9% in the first quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 28,170 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,110,000 after acquiring an additional 11,292 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.52% of the company’s stock.

About Bread Financial

Bread Financial Corporation (NYSE: BFH) is a financial services company that provides payment, lending and savings solutions to consumers and businesses. The company works with merchants and brands to offer private-label and co-branded credit cards, installment loans, buy now, pay later services and other financing options at the point of sale.

Its consumer products and services include Bread Pay payment solutions, credit card programs issued through its banking subsidiaries, and Bread Savings deposit products.