New York State Common Retirement Fund Purchases 14,800 Shares of Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BFH)

New York State Common Retirement Fund grew its position in shares of Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BFH) by 68.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 36,419 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 14,800 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned about 0.07% of Bread Financial worth $2,224,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Truist Financial Corp bought a new position in Bread Financial during the 4th quarter worth approximately $226,000. CIBC Asset Management Inc raised its holdings in Bread Financial by 4.4% during the 4th quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 4,872 shares of the company’s stock worth $297,000 after purchasing an additional 206 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in Bread Financial by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 241,087 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,721,000 after purchasing an additional 6,888 shares during the last quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D raised its holdings in Bread Financial by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 36,450 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,226,000 after purchasing an additional 1,218 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Savant Capital LLC raised its holdings in Bread Financial by 5.8% during the 4th quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 5,329 shares of the company’s stock worth $325,000 after purchasing an additional 290 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.52% of the company’s stock.

Bread Financial Stock Performance

NYSE BFH opened at $53.99 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $60.90 and a 200 day simple moving average of $56.93. Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. has a 12-month low of $32.10 and a 12-month high of $66.71. The company has a current ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The company has a market cap of $2.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.73, a PEG ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.93.

Bread Financial (NYSE:BFH) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The company reported $0.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.07. Bread Financial had a net margin of 5.75% and a return on equity of 12.41%. Sell-side analysts predict that Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. will post 6.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bread Financial Dividend Announcement

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 issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.56%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. Bread Financial’s dividend payout ratio is 15.14%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have issued reports on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Bread Financial from $52.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Bread Financial from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective 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. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Bread Financial in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised shares of Bread Financial from an “underweight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $35.00 to $76.00 in a research 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 issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Bread Financial has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $59.69.

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.