Bread Financial (NYSE:BFH) Earns Buy Rating from Analysts at UBS Group

UBS Group started coverage on shares of Bread Financial (NYSE:BFH) in a research note published on Thursday, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm issued a buy rating and a $92.00 price target on the stock.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on BFH. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Bread Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $84.00 price target for the company in a report on Tuesday. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on shares of Bread Financial from $64.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Evercore ISI set a $81.00 target price on shares of Bread Financial in a report on Tuesday. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Bread Financial in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated an “underweight” rating and set a $72.00 price objective on shares of Bread Financial in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $78.00.

Bread Financial Trading Down 1.1%

Bread Financial stock opened at $80.33 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $70.70 and a 200 day simple moving average of $64.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.18, a PEG ratio of 0.56 and a beta of 1.27. 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 $38.21 and a 52 week high of $82.03.

Bread Financial (NYSE:BFH) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 23rd. The company reported $4.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.11 by $1.91. Bread Financial had a return on equity of 15.97% and a net margin of 10.08%.The firm had revenue of $1.24 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $974.30 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.83 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Bread Financial will post 6.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Bread Financial announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Thursday, October 23rd that authorizes the company to buyback $200.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to reacquire up to 7.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Bread Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 7th were given a dividend of $0.23 per share. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 7th. This is a boost from Bread Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. Bread Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.37%.

Institutional Trading of Bread Financial

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its stake in shares of Bread Financial by 39.0% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 217,773 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,905,000 after acquiring an additional 61,047 shares during the last quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp bought a new stake in Bread Financial during the 2nd quarter worth $1,142,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its holdings in Bread Financial by 25.1% in the 2nd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,233,121 shares of the company’s stock worth $70,436,000 after purchasing an additional 247,437 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Bread Financial in the second quarter valued at about $16,599,000. Finally, Jump Financial LLC boosted its stake in shares of Bread Financial by 132.6% during the second quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 198,308 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,327,000 after purchasing an additional 113,053 shares in the last quarter. 99.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.