Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BFH) Shares Purchased by Intech Investment Management LLC

Intech Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BFH) by 96.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 146,805 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 72,204 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Bread Financial were worth $8,964,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Bread Financial by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,034,554 shares of the company’s stock valued at $96,804,000 after buying an additional 41,012 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Bread Financial by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,155,989 shares of the company’s stock worth $55,012,000 after purchasing an additional 13,459 shares during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Bread Financial by 30.2% in the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 1,121,329 shares of the company’s stock worth $53,353,000 after purchasing an additional 260,283 shares during the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Bread Financial by 38.2% during the 3rd quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 880,827 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,910,000 after purchasing an additional 243,419 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Bread Financial by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 730,531 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,759,000 after buying an additional 13,484 shares during the last quarter. 99.52% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BFH has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Morgan Stanley upgraded Bread Financial from an “underweight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $35.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Bread Financial from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Bread Financial in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Bread Financial from $67.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Compass Point boosted their price target on Bread Financial from $75.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Bread Financial presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $59.69.

Bread Financial Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of BFH stock opened at $47.88 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.63, a P/E/G ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.96. The company has a quick ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $32.10 and a fifty-two week high of $66.71. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $57.82 and a 200 day simple moving average of $56.40.

Bread Financial (NYSE:BFH) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The company reported $0.41 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.07. Bread Financial had a net margin of 5.75% and a return on equity of 12.41%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. will post 6.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bread Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.75%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. Bread Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.14%.

Bread Financial announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Wednesday, March 5th that authorizes the company to repurchase $150.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to buy up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Bread Financial Profile

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.