Hennessy Advisors Inc. Sells 10,000 Shares of Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. $BFH

Hennessy Advisors Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BFH) by 16.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 50,000 shares of the company’s stock after selling 10,000 shares during the period. Hennessy Advisors Inc. owned approximately 0.11% of Bread Financial worth $2,788,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BFH. Calamos Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Bread Financial in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $273,000. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al lifted its holdings in shares of Bread Financial by 367.9% during the 3rd quarter. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al now owns 39,300 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,192,000 after buying an additional 30,900 shares during the period. Diversified Trust Co purchased a new position in shares of Bread Financial in the 3rd quarter worth $217,000. CWM LLC grew its holdings in shares of Bread Financial by 18.3% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,978 shares of the company’s stock worth $166,000 after acquiring an additional 461 shares during the period. Finally, Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Bread Financial by 8.6% in the third quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 19,333 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,078,000 after acquiring an additional 1,538 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 99.52% of the company’s stock.

Bread Financial Stock Performance

BFH opened at $74.12 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $68.90 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $63.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 1.19 and a quick ratio of 1.19. The firm has a market cap of $3.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.55, a PEG ratio of 0.47 and a beta of 1.27. Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. has a 1-year low of $38.21 and a 1-year high of $78.98.

Bread Financial (NYSE:BFH) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 23rd. The company reported $4.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.11 by $1.91. The company had revenue of $1.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $974.30 million. Bread Financial had a net margin of 10.08% and a return on equity of 15.97%. Bread Financial’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.83 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. will post 6.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bread Financial declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Thursday, October 23rd that allows the company to repurchase $200.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to repurchase up to 7.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Bread Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 7th were paid a $0.23 dividend. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. This is a positive change from Bread Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 7th. Bread Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.37%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BFH has been the topic of several research reports. Barclays raised their target price on Bread Financial from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 24th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Bread Financial in a report on Monday. Morgan Stanley set a $57.00 target price on shares of Bread Financial and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 16th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on shares of Bread Financial from $64.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 24th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Bread Financial from $64.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Bread Financial presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $70.18.

About Bread Financial

Bread Financial, formerly known as Alliance Data Systems, is a Columbus, Ohio–based financial services company that specializes in providing private label credit programs, co-brand credit cards and digital payment solutions for retail partners. The company designs, issues and services proprietary credit products, enabling merchants to offer branded financing options that drive customer loyalty and increase basket sizes at the point of sale. Through its Bread technology platform, Bread Financial delivers installment-based payment options that integrate directly into e-commerce and in-store checkout experiences.

In addition to its core credit offerings, Bread Financial provides analytics, marketing and loyalty services to help merchants better understand consumer behavior and optimize promotional strategies.