Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BFH) Short Interest Update

Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BFH - Get Free Report) was the target of a significant growth in short interest during the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 3,740,000 shares, a growth of 77.3% from the February 13th total of 2,110,000 shares. Currently, 7.8% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 746,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 5.0 days.

Bread Financial Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of BFH traded down $0.08 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $47.88. 896,000 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 797,128. Bread Financial has a twelve month low of $32.10 and a twelve month high of $66.71. The stock has a market cap of $2.35 billion, a PE ratio of 8.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.96. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $58.05 and a 200-day simple moving average of $56.47. 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 (NYSE:BFH - Get Free Report) last announced 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%. On average, analysts anticipate that Bread Financial will post 6.45 earnings per share for the current year.

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Bread Financial declared that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, March 5th that allows the company to repurchase $150.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to buy up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Bread Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.75%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. Bread Financial's dividend payout ratio is presently 15.14%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on BFH shares. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Bread Financial from an "underweight" rating to an "overweight" rating and increased their target price for the company from $35.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of Bread Financial from $67.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on shares of Bread Financial from $68.00 to $58.00 and set a "sell" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Compass Point increased their target price on shares of Bread Financial from $75.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on shares of Bread Financial from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $59.69.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Picton Mahoney Asset Management boosted its stake in shares of Bread Financial by 2,083.3% in the fourth quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 524 shares of the company's stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the period. Pinnacle Holdings LLC purchased a new position in shares of Bread Financial in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Bread Financial by 207.7% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,394 shares of the company's stock valued at $86,000 after purchasing an additional 941 shares during the period. KBC Group NV boosted its stake in shares of Bread Financial by 36.1% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,103 shares of the company's stock valued at $128,000 after purchasing an additional 558 shares during the period. Finally, Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Bread Financial by 64.6% in the third quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. now owns 2,631 shares of the company's stock valued at $125,000 after purchasing an additional 1,033 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other 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.