Bread Financial (NYSE:BFH) Board Approves Stock Buyback Program

Bread Financial (NYSE:BFH - Get Free Report) announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, March 5th, RTT News reports. The company plans to buyback $150.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Bread Financial Stock Down 1.2 %

NYSE BFH traded down $0.61 on Friday, reaching $48.73. 1,454,471 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 729,740. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 1.15. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $59.66 and a 200-day moving average price of $56.83. The company has a market cap of $2.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.78, a PEG ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.96. Bread Financial has a 12 month low of $32.10 and a 12 month high of $66.71.

Bread Financial (NYSE:BFH - Get Free Report) last issued its 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 return on equity of 12.41% and a net margin of 5.75%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Bread Financial will post 6.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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Bread Financial Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BFH has been the subject of several research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on Bread Financial from $52.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a "sell" rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted 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. Compass Point lifted their target price on Bread Financial from $75.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on Bread Financial from $67.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded Bread Financial from an "underweight" rating to an "overweight" rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $35.00 to $76.00 in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $59.69.

Bread Financial Company Profile

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.