Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BFH) Short Interest Up 25.6% in February

Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BFH - Get Free Report) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,110,000 shares, a growth of 25.6% from the January 31st total of 1,680,000 shares. Currently, 4.4% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 660,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.2 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on BFH shares. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Bread Financial from $52.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a "sell" rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on Bread Financial from $67.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Bread Financial from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Compass Point boosted their price objective on Bread Financial from $75.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, JMP Securities reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of Bread Financial in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Bread Financial has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $59.69.

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Bread Financial Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of BFH traded down $0.61 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $48.73. 1,454,471 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 729,740. The stock has a market cap of $2.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.78, a P/E/G ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.96. The stock's 50-day moving average is $59.66 and its two-hundred day moving average is $56.83. Bread Financial has a 12 month low of $32.10 and a 12 month high of $66.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 1.15 and a quick ratio of 1.15.

Bread Financial (NYSE:BFH - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The company reported $0.41 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.07. Bread Financial had a return on equity of 12.41% and a net margin of 5.75%. Research analysts forecast that Bread Financial will post 6.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bread Financial declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, March 5th that permits the company to repurchase $150.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to buy up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Bread Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.72%. Bread Financial's dividend payout ratio is 15.14%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Bread Financial by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,848,495 shares of the company's stock worth $357,109,000 after buying an additional 36,057 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Bread Financial by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,034,554 shares of the company's stock valued at $96,804,000 after purchasing an additional 41,012 shares during the last quarter. Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Bread Financial during the 4th quarter valued at $104,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Bread Financial by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 1,452,509 shares of the company's stock valued at $89,299,000 after purchasing an additional 13,679 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Bread Financial by 6.8% during the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,382,135 shares of the company's stock valued at $84,393,000 after purchasing an additional 88,081 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.52% of the company's stock.

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.