Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BFH) Sees Significant Decline in Short Interest

Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BFH) was the target of a significant decline in short interest during the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 3,360,000 shares, a decline of 6.7% from the August 15th total of 3,600,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 950,200 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.5 days. Currently, 6.9% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Bread Financial Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BFH opened at $52.41 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $52.15 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $43.90. Bread Financial has a 52-week low of $26.08 and a 52-week high of $59.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.60, a P/E/G ratio of 0.16 and a beta of 1.95.

Bread Financial (NYSE:BFH) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The company reported $2.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $1.06. The business had revenue of $939.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $922.01 million. Bread Financial had a return on equity of 16.24% and a net margin of 9.77%. The business’s revenue was down 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.27 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Bread Financial will post 7.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Bread Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 9th were given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.60%. Bread Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 10.58%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently commented on BFH shares. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Bread Financial from $40.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Bank of America increased their target price on Bread Financial from $54.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Bread Financial from $48.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Bread Financial from $32.00 to $37.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Bread Financial from $35.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $50.00.

Institutional Trading of Bread Financial

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of BFH. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Bread Financial by 3.8% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,847,645 shares of the company’s stock worth $217,766,000 after purchasing an additional 216,274 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Bread Financial by 2.3% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,173,009 shares of the company’s stock worth $141,386,000 after buying an additional 70,092 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Bread Financial by 7.8% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,107,253 shares of the company’s stock worth $69,413,000 after buying an additional 152,954 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC increased its position in Bread Financial by 81.6% in the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,464,195 shares of the company’s stock valued at $65,245,000 after acquiring an additional 657,968 shares during the period. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Bread Financial by 6.1% during the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,249,669 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,685,000 after acquiring an additional 71,777 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.