Short Interest in Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BFH) Decreases By 20.8%

Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BFH - Get Free Report) saw a large decline in short interest in January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,750,000 shares, a decline of 20.8% from the December 31st total of 2,210,000 shares. Currently, 3.6% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 691,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.5 days.

Institutional Trading of Bread Financial

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of BFH. Xponance Inc. bought a new stake in Bread Financial during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $296,000. Marshall Wace LLP increased its stake in Bread Financial by 372.0% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 42,948 shares of the company's stock worth $1,914,000 after purchasing an additional 33,848 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its stake in shares of Bread Financial by 4.9% during the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 27,252 shares of the company's stock worth $1,214,000 after acquiring an additional 1,276 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp bought a new position in shares of Bread Financial during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $533,000. Finally, Algert Global LLC grew its stake in shares of Bread Financial by 12.2% during the 2nd quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 20,486 shares of the company's stock worth $913,000 after acquiring an additional 2,226 shares in the last quarter. 99.52% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BFH has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Compass Point boosted their target price on shares of Bread Financial from $75.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Morgan Stanley raised Bread Financial from an "underweight" rating to an "overweight" rating and lifted their price target for the company from $35.00 to $76.00 in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Bread Financial from $52.00 to $54.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Bread Financial from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped 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. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $59.69.

Bread Financial Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:BFH traded down $0.12 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $63.21. The stock had a trading volume of 1,079,830 shares, compared to its average volume of 632,525. The firm has a market cap of $3.14 billion, a PE ratio of 11.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.93. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $61.93 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $55.70. The company has a current ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. Bread Financial has a twelve month low of $32.10 and a twelve month high of $66.71.

Bread Financial (NYSE:BFH - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The company reported $0.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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%. On average, research analysts predict that Bread Financial will post 6.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bread Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.33%. 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.