Wall Street Zen Upgrades Bread Financial (NYSE:BFH) to Buy

Bread Financial (NYSE:BFH) was upgraded by analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report issued on Saturday.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on BFH. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Bread Financial from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Loop Capital assumed coverage on shares of Bread Financial in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. They set a “buy” rating and a $104.00 price objective on the stock. BTIG Research increased their price objective on shares of Bread Financial from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Bread Financial from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Bread Financial from $105.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $96.42.

Bread Financial Price Performance

Bread Financial stock opened at $101.62 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.32, a PEG ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 1.12. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $86.76 and a 200-day moving average of $78.13. The company has a quick ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. Bread Financial has a 52-week low of $50.63 and a 52-week high of $103.12.

Bread Financial (NYSE:BFH) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The company reported $4.18 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.00 by $1.18. The business had revenue of $1.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $992.05 million. Bread Financial had a net margin of 11.90% and a return on equity of 18.79%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.86 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Bread Financial will post 10.65 EPS for the current year.

Bread Financial announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Thursday, February 26th that permits the company to repurchase $600.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to buy up to 19% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director John J. Fawcett acquired 698 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 21st. The shares were acquired at an average price of $86.43 per share, with a total value of $60,328.14. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 11,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $950,730. The trade was a 6.78% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ralph J. Andretta sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.10, for a total transaction of $1,336,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 582,241 shares in the company, valued at approximately $51,877,673.10. This trade represents a 2.51% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Corporate insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Bread Financial

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of BFH. Public Sector Pension Investment Board boosted its position in shares of Bread Financial by 12.2% during the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 209,029 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,658,000 after purchasing an additional 22,745 shares in the last quarter. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP bought a new position in shares of Bread Financial during the 3rd quarter valued at about $14,090,000. UBS Group AG boosted its position in shares of Bread Financial by 100.4% during the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 716,725 shares of the company’s stock valued at $53,059,000 after purchasing an additional 359,088 shares in the last quarter. Brooktree Capital Management boosted its position in shares of Bread Financial by 5.1% during the 3rd quarter. Brooktree Capital Management now owns 164,084 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,151,000 after purchasing an additional 8,002 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its position in shares of Bread Financial by 38,301.2% during the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 215,815 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,977,000 after purchasing an additional 215,253 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.52% of the company’s stock.

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.