Short Interest in Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BFH) Rises By 7.4%

Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BFH) saw a significant increase in short interest in September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,610,000 shares, an increase of 7.4% from the August 31st total of 3,360,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,010,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.6 days. Approximately 7.5% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Bread Financial Stock Performance

NYSE:BFH opened at $46.42 on Wednesday. Bread Financial has a fifty-two week low of $26.08 and a fifty-two week high of $59.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 1.19. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $52.00 and a 200 day moving average price of $44.57. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.85, a PEG ratio of 0.17 and a beta of 1.95.

Bread Financial (NYSE:BFH) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The company reported $2.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $1.06. The firm had revenue of $939.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $922.01 million. Bread Financial had a return on equity of 16.24% and a net margin of 9.77%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.27 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Bread Financial will post 7.49 EPS for the current year.

Bread Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 13th. Investors of record on Friday, August 9th were paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.81%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 9th. Bread Financial’s payout ratio is currently 10.58%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on BFH shares. Evercore ISI raised shares of Bread Financial from an “underperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $42.00 to $45.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 20th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $67.00 price target on shares of Bread Financial in a report on Monday, June 17th. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Bread Financial from $44.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Bread Financial in a report on Thursday, June 20th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Bread Financial from $40.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $49.71.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Bread Financial

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Arizona State Retirement System grew its stake in Bread Financial by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 13,836 shares of the company’s stock worth $617,000 after purchasing an additional 279 shares in the last quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd grew its position in shares of Bread Financial by 30.0% during the second quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd now owns 1,721 shares of the company’s stock worth $77,000 after buying an additional 397 shares in the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System increased its stake in shares of Bread Financial by 2.0% during the second quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 24,900 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,110,000 after buying an additional 500 shares during the period. CWM LLC raised its holdings in Bread Financial by 47.5% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,708 shares of the company’s stock valued at $76,000 after acquiring an additional 550 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ensign Peak Advisors Inc lifted its stake in Bread Financial by 3.3% in the second quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc now owns 18,592 shares of the company’s stock worth $828,000 after acquiring an additional 600 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.52% of the company’s stock.

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.