Edgestream Partners L.P. Increases Position in Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BFH)

Edgestream Partners L.P. increased its stake in Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BFH) by 327.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 57,271 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 43,887 shares during the quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P.’s holdings in Bread Financial were worth $3,497,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in BFH. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 941 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV increased its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 558 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. increased its holdings in Bread Financial by 64.6% during the 3rd quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. now owns 2,631 shares of the company’s stock valued at $125,000 after acquiring an additional 1,033 shares in the last quarter. Choreo LLC purchased a new position in Bread Financial during the 4th quarter valued at about $201,000. Finally, Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. purchased a new position in Bread Financial during the 4th quarter valued at about $201,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.52% of the company’s stock.

Bread Financial Price Performance

BFH opened at $48.73 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $59.66 and its 200 day simple moving average is $56.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 1.15. Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $32.10 and a 1 year high of $66.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.39 billion, a PE ratio of 8.78, a P/E/G ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.96.

Bread Financial (NYSE:BFH) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The company reported $0.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. will post 6.45 EPS for the current year.

Bread Financial declared that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, March 5th that allows the company to repurchase $150.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to buy up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Bread Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.72%. Bread Financial’s payout ratio is 15.14%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have weighed in on BFH. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of 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 report on Thursday, December 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Bread Financial from $67.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Bread Financial from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Bread Financial from $52.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Bread Financial in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $59.69.

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.