Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Cuts Bread Financial (NYSE:BFH) Price Target to $71.00

Bread Financial (NYSE:BFH) had its target price cut by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $88.00 to $71.00 in a research report released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the stock.

BFH has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Bread Financial from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 9th. Barclays reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and issued a $52.00 price objective (up previously from $45.00) on shares of Bread Financial in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. BTIG Research set a $105.00 price objective on shares of Bread Financial and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on Bread Financial from $68.00 to $64.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on Bread Financial from $65.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $66.40.

Bread Financial Trading Up 1.2%

Shares of BFH opened at $55.78 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a current ratio of 1.18. Bread Financial has a one year low of $38.21 and a one year high of $68.01. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $61.60 and a 200 day moving average price of $55.63. The company has a market capitalization of $2.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.44, a P/E/G ratio of 0.50 and a beta of 1.41.

Bread Financial (NYSE:BFH) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The company reported $3.14 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $1.29. The company had revenue of $929.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $944.69 million. Bread Financial had a return on equity of 13.10% and a net margin of 6.05%.The business’s revenue was down 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.66 EPS. Bread Financial has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Bread Financial will post 6.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bread Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 12th. Investors of record on Friday, August 8th were paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 8th. Bread Financial’s payout ratio is currently 14.21%.

Bread Financial announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, August 27th that authorizes the company to buyback $0.00 in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Bread Financial

In other news, Director John J. Fawcett bought 1,027 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 30th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $61.79 per share, with a total value of $63,458.33. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 10,302 shares in the company, valued at approximately $636,560.58. The trade was a 11.07% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.85% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Bread Financial

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Curat Global LLC boosted its stake in shares of Bread Financial by 81,068.5% during the 2nd quarter. Curat Global LLC now owns 450,485 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,732,000 after acquiring an additional 449,930 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of Bread Financial by 45.0% in the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,320,418 shares of the company’s stock worth $66,127,000 after acquiring an additional 409,877 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in shares of Bread Financial by 241.1% during the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 537,656 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,711,000 after acquiring an additional 380,039 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Bread Financial by 104.8% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 736,604 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,889,000 after acquiring an additional 376,920 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in Bread Financial in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $16,599,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.52% of the company’s stock.

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.