Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BFH) Sees Large Drop in Short Interest

Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BFH) was the target of a significant drop in short interest in the month of January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,750,000 shares, a drop of 20.8% from the December 31st total of 2,210,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 691,600 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.5 days. Approximately 3.6% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Bread Financial

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Bread Financial by 33.5% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,035 shares of the company’s stock valued at $49,000 after acquiring an additional 260 shares during the last quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd grew its holdings in Bread Financial by 30.0% during the second quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd now owns 1,721 shares of the company’s stock valued at $77,000 after purchasing an additional 397 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC raised its position in shares of Bread Financial by 43.7% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,455 shares of the company’s stock valued at $117,000 after purchasing an additional 747 shares during the period. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Bread Financial by 64.6% in the third quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. now owns 2,631 shares of the company’s stock worth $125,000 after buying an additional 1,033 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV grew its stake in Bread Financial by 36.1% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,103 shares of the company’s stock valued at $128,000 after buying an additional 558 shares during the last quarter. 99.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on BFH. Compass Point upped their target price on Bread Financial from $75.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. TD Cowen raised their target price on Bread Financial from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of Bread Financial from $67.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Bread Financial from $52.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised Bread Financial from an “underweight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $35.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Two investment 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.com, Bread Financial presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $57.46.

Bread Financial Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:BFH traded down $0.08 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $63.57. 1,350,762 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 599,172. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $61.69 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $55.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 1.19. Bread Financial has a 52-week low of $32.10 and a 52-week high of $66.71. The company has a market capitalization of $3.16 billion, a PE ratio of 10.12 and a beta of 1.94.

Bread Financial (NYSE:BFH) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The company reported $0.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.07. Bread Financial had a return on equity of 13.33% and a net margin of 6.37%. As a group, research analysts predict that Bread Financial will post 7.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bread Financial Dividend Announcement

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 1.32%. Bread Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 13.38%.

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.