Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BFH) Shares Sold by Bank of Montreal Can

Bank of Montreal Can cut its stake in shares of Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BFH) by 23.5% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 201,167 shares of the company’s stock after selling 61,714 shares during the quarter. Bank of Montreal Can’s holdings in Bread Financial were worth $12,283,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Bread Financial by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,848,495 shares of the company’s stock worth $357,109,000 after acquiring an additional 36,057 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Bread Financial by 2.1% during the third 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 during the period. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in Bread Financial by 6.8% in the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,382,135 shares of the company’s stock valued at $84,393,000 after buying an additional 88,081 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in Bread Financial by 31.1% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,207,404 shares of the company’s stock worth $73,724,000 after buying an additional 286,720 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Bread Financial by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,155,989 shares of the company’s stock worth $55,012,000 after buying an additional 13,459 shares during the last quarter. 99.52% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on BFH. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Bread Financial from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley downgraded Bread Financial from an “overweight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $33.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Monday, April 7th. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Bread Financial in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Bread Financial from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on Bread Financial from $68.00 to $58.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $57.08.

Bread Financial Stock Performance

BFH opened at $44.04 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $2.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.93, a PEG ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.58. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $52.27 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $55.80. The company has a quick ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. has a 52-week low of $32.10 and a 52-week high of $66.71.

Bread Financial (NYSE:BFH) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The company reported $0.41 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.07. Bread Financial had a net margin of 5.75% and a return on equity of 12.41%. Equities analysts anticipate that Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. will post 6.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bread Financial announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, March 5th that allows the company to buyback $150.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Bread Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.91%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. Bread Financial’s payout ratio is 15.14%.

About Bread Financial

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.