Bread Financial (NYSE:BFH) Upgraded to "Overweight" at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Bread Financial (NYSE:BFH - Free Report) from an underweight rating to an overweight rating in a research report report published on Thursday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. They currently have $76.00 price objective on the stock, up from their previous price objective of $35.00.

A number of other research firms have also issued reports on BFH. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of Bread Financial from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on Bread Financial from $67.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Barclays cut their target price on Bread Financial from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Bank of America lowered their price target on shares of Bread Financial from $61.00 to $57.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Bread Financial from $52.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a "sell" rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $55.14.

Bread Financial Price Performance

BFH stock traded up $0.73 during trading on Thursday, hitting $61.42. The stock had a trading volume of 1,055,001 shares, compared to its average volume of 839,826. Bread Financial has a twelve month low of $28.00 and a twelve month high of $66.71. The company's 50-day moving average price is $56.89 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $51.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 1.19 and a quick ratio of 1.19. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.78 and a beta of 1.96.

Bread Financial (NYSE:BFH - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $1.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.86 by ($0.03). Bread Financial had a return on equity of 13.33% and a net margin of 6.37%. The firm had revenue of $983.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $981.26 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.46 earnings per share. The business's revenue was down 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Bread Financial will post 7.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bread Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Friday, November 8th were issued a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.37%. Bread Financial's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.38%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Bread Financial

In other news, Director John J. Fawcett bought 1,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $51.02 per share, with a total value of $51,020.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,473 shares in the company, valued at $330,252.46. The trade was a 18.27 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.62% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Bread Financial by 2.3% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,173,009 shares of the company's stock valued at $141,386,000 after purchasing an additional 70,092 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Bread Financial by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,034,554 shares of the company's stock valued at $96,804,000 after buying an additional 41,012 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC grew its position in shares of Bread Financial by 81.6% during the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,464,195 shares of the company's stock worth $65,245,000 after buying an additional 657,968 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Bread Financial by 6.1% during the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,249,669 shares of the company's stock worth $55,685,000 after buying an additional 71,777 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in shares of Bread Financial by 22.4% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,161,443 shares of the company's stock worth $51,754,000 after buying an additional 212,276 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.