Stock Repurchase Program Authorized by Bread Financial (NYSE:BFH) Board of Directors

Bread Financial (NYSE:BFH) declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, March 5th, RTT News reports. The company plans to repurchase $150.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to repurchase up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Bread Financial Trading Up 1.0 %

NYSE:BFH opened at $51.02 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 1.15 and a quick ratio of 1.15. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.93. Bread Financial has a one year low of $32.10 and a one year high of $66.71. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $60.20 and a 200-day moving average price of $56.92.

Bread Financial (NYSE:BFH) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The company reported $0.41 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%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Bread Financial will post 6.45 EPS for the current year.

Bread Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.65%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. Bread Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 15.14%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BFH has been the topic of several analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Bread Financial from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group upped 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. Morgan Stanley raised Bread Financial from an “underweight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $35.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Bread Financial in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Compass Point upped their price objective on Bread Financial from $75.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Two investment 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 MarketBeat, Bread Financial presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $59.69.

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.