Norges Bank Takes Position in Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BFH)

Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BFH) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund acquired 388,792 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,740,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Picton Mahoney Asset Management lifted its position in Bread Financial by 2,083.3% during the 4th quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 524 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Bread Financial by 207.7% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,394 shares of the company’s stock valued at $86,000 after purchasing an additional 941 shares during the period. KBC Group NV boosted its stake in Bread Financial by 36.1% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,103 shares of the company’s stock valued at $128,000 after purchasing an additional 558 shares during the period. Choreo LLC acquired a new stake in Bread Financial in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $201,000. Finally, Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. bought a new position in Bread Financial in the 4th quarter worth approximately $201,000. 99.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on BFH. Compass Point raised their price objective on shares of Bread Financial from $75.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on shares of Bread Financial from $68.00 to $58.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Bread Financial in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on Bread Financial from $67.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised Bread Financial from an “underweight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $35.00 to $76.00 in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $60.67.

Bread Financial Price Performance

Shares of BFH stock opened at $41.94 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $54.80 and its 200 day simple moving average is $56.13. Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $32.10 and a one year high of $66.71. The firm has a market cap of $2.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 1.15 and a quick ratio of 1.15.

Bread Financial (NYSE:BFH) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The company reported $0.41 EPS 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, analysts expect that Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. will post 6.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bread Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.00%. Bread Financial’s dividend payout ratio is 15.14%.

Bread Financial declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, March 5th that allows the company to repurchase $150.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to repurchase up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Bread Financial Company 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.