Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BFH) Sees Significant Drop in Short Interest

Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BFH - Get Free Report) was the target of a significant decrease in short interest during the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,750,000 shares, a decrease of 20.8% from the December 15th total of 2,210,000 shares. Approximately 3.6% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 691,600 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.5 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BFH has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of Bread Financial from $67.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Bank of America reduced their price objective on Bread Financial from $61.00 to $57.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Bread Financial from $52.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a "sell" rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Bread Financial from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Bread Financial from an "underweight" rating to an "overweight" rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $35.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Bread Financial has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $55.14.

Insider Activity

In other Bread Financial news, Director John J. Fawcett purchased 1,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $51.02 per share, with a total value of $51,020.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 6,473 shares in the company, valued at approximately $330,252.46. This represents a 18.27 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 0.62% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Bread Financial

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in BFH. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Bread Financial by 33.5% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,035 shares of the company's stock valued at $49,000 after buying an additional 260 shares in the last quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Bread Financial by 6.2% during the third quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC now owns 4,778 shares of the company's stock worth $239,000 after buying an additional 278 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Bread Financial by 2.8% during the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 13,421 shares of the company's stock worth $639,000 after buying an additional 369 shares during the last quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd raised its stake in Bread Financial by 30.0% during the 2nd quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd now owns 1,721 shares of the company's stock valued at $77,000 after acquiring an additional 397 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ensign Peak Advisors Inc lifted its position in Bread Financial by 3.3% during the 2nd quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc now owns 18,592 shares of the company's stock worth $828,000 after acquiring an additional 600 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.52% of the company's stock.

Bread Financial Stock Down 1.1 %

BFH stock traded down $0.69 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $60.79. The company's stock had a trading volume of 466,803 shares, compared to its average volume of 533,770. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.68 and a beta of 1.94. The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. Bread Financial has a 52-week low of $28.00 and a 52-week high of $66.71. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $60.68 and a 200-day simple moving average of $54.31.

Bread Financial (NYSE:BFH - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $1.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.86 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $983.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $981.26 million. Bread Financial had a net margin of 6.37% and a return on equity of 13.33%. The business's quarterly revenue was down 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.46 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Bread Financial will post 7.62 EPS for the current year.

Bread Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 8th were issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Bread Financial's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.38%.

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.

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