HighTower Advisors LLC Buys 2,596 Shares of Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BFH)

HighTower Advisors LLC grew its position in Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BFH) by 45.4% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 8,308 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,596 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Bread Financial were worth $507,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Bread Financial by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,034,554 shares of the company’s stock worth $96,804,000 after purchasing an additional 41,012 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Bread Financial by 1.2% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,155,989 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,012,000 after buying an additional 13,459 shares during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. raised its holdings in 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 valued at $53,353,000 after buying an additional 260,283 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Bread Financial by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 730,531 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,759,000 after buying an additional 13,484 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allianz Asset Management GmbH boosted its position in Bread Financial by 44.5% during the 4th quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 474,660 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,983,000 after buying an additional 146,244 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.52% of the company’s stock.

Bread Financial Trading Down 2.6 %

Shares of BFH stock opened at $49.95 on Monday. Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $32.10 and a fifty-two week high of $66.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 1.15. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $56.42 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $56.21. The company has a market cap of $2.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.00, a PEG ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.96.

Bread Financial (NYSE:BFH) last released 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%. Research analysts forecast that Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. will post 6.45 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Bread Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.68%. Bread Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.14%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BFH has been the subject of several recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Bread Financial from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley upgraded Bread Financial from an “underweight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $35.00 to $76.00 in a report on Thursday, December 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on Bread Financial from $68.00 to $58.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on Bread Financial from $67.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Bread Financial in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $59.69.

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.