Franklin Resources Inc. Cuts Position in Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BFH)

Franklin Resources Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BFH - Free Report) by 20.5% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 920,684 shares of the company's stock after selling 237,826 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. owned 1.85% of Bread Financial worth $46,734,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. World Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Bread Financial during the third quarter worth $810,000. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Bread Financial during the 3rd quarter worth $1,004,000. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Bread Financial by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,155,989 shares of the company's stock worth $55,012,000 after purchasing an additional 13,459 shares during the period. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Bread Financial in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,350,000. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Bread Financial by 94.1% in the third quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 35,190 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,674,000 after purchasing an additional 17,057 shares during the period. 99.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Bread Financial

In other news, Director John J. Fawcett acquired 1,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $51.02 per share, for a total transaction of $51,020.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 6,473 shares in the company, valued at approximately $330,252.46. This represents a 18.27 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.62% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Bread Financial Trading Down 6.8 %

Shares of NYSE BFH traded down $4.42 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $60.69. 873,058 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 838,890. The company has a current ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The company has a market capitalization of $3.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.66 and a beta of 1.96. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $56.67 and a 200-day moving average price of $51.51. Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. has a 52-week low of $28.00 and a 52-week high of $66.71.

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 for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.86 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $983.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $981.26 million. Bread Financial had a net margin of 6.37% and a return on equity of 13.33%. The company's revenue was down 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.46 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. will post 7.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 paid a $0.21 dividend. 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 payout ratio is 13.38%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BFH has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Bank of America lowered their target price 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. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Bread Financial from $52.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a "sell" rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Bread Financial from $52.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. TD Cowen boosted their target price on Bread Financial from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on Bread Financial from $67.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $53.54.

Bread Financial 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.