Hussman Strategic Advisors Inc. Acquires New Position in Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BFH)

Hussman Strategic Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BFH - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 31,500 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,923,000. Hussman Strategic Advisors Inc. owned about 0.06% of Bread Financial at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of BFH. State Street Corp lifted its position in Bread Financial by 2.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,034,554 shares of the company's stock valued at $96,804,000 after purchasing an additional 41,012 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 13,459 shares during the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. grew its position in Bread Financial by 30.2% in the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 1,121,329 shares of the company's stock worth $53,353,000 after acquiring an additional 260,283 shares in the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC raised its position in Bread Financial by 38.2% during the third quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 880,827 shares of the company's stock valued at $41,910,000 after purchasing an additional 243,419 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Bread Financial by 1.9% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 730,531 shares of the company's stock valued at $34,759,000 after purchasing an additional 13,484 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.52% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BFH has been the topic of several recent research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Bread Financial from $52.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a "sell" rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Bread Financial from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Bread Financial from $52.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of Bread Financial from $67.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Bread Financial from an "underweight" rating to an "overweight" rating and upped their price target for the company from $35.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Bread Financial has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $59.69.

Bread Financial Trading Down 4.7 %

Shares of NYSE BFH traded down $2.81 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $56.87. 582,505 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 625,441. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 1.15. Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. has a 12-month low of $32.10 and a 12-month high of $66.71. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $61.80 and a 200 day moving average price of $56.70. The firm has a market cap of $2.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.25, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.93.

Bread Financial (NYSE:BFH - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The company reported $0.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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, analysts expect that Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. will post 6.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Bread Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.48%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. Bread Financial's dividend payout ratio is currently 15.14%.

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.