Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BFH) Sees Significant Decrease in Short Interest

Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BFH) saw a large decrease in short interest in August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 3,360,000 shares, a decrease of 6.7% from the August 15th total of 3,600,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 950,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.5 days. Approximately 6.9% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Bread Financial

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Pzena Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Bread Financial by 14.0% during the 4th quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 807,557 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,601,000 after acquiring an additional 99,029 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC purchased a new position in Bread Financial in the first quarter worth $631,000. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC raised its position in Bread Financial by 10.6% during the fourth quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 528,003 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,392,000 after purchasing an additional 50,474 shares in the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new stake in Bread Financial during the first quarter worth about $623,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Bread Financial by 5.8% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 672,141 shares of the company’s stock worth $22,140,000 after purchasing an additional 37,005 shares in the last quarter. 99.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Bread Financial Stock Down 0.1 %

NYSE:BFH traded down $0.07 on Wednesday, hitting $52.20. The stock had a trading volume of 33,288 shares, compared to its average volume of 853,912. Bread Financial has a 1 year low of $26.08 and a 1 year high of $59.66. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $52.03 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $43.84. The stock has a market cap of $2.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.16 and a beta of 1.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 1.19.

Bread Financial (NYSE:BFH) last announced its earnings results 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. Bread Financial had a return on equity of 16.24% and a net margin of 9.77%. The firm had revenue of $939.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $922.01 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.27 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Bread Financial will post 7.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Bread Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 9th were issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 9th. Bread Financial’s payout ratio is 10.58%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently commented on BFH shares. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Bread Financial from $47.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Bread Financial from $54.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 19th. TD Cowen raised their target price on Bread Financial from $44.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Bread Financial from $48.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an “outperform” rating and set a $67.00 price objective on shares of Bread Financial in a report on Monday, June 17th. 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $50.00.

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.