Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. Makes New Investment in Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BFH)

Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. bought a new position in Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BFH) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 3,300 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $201,000.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in BFH. US Bancorp DE boosted its position in shares of Bread Financial by 10.1% during the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 13,110 shares of the company’s stock valued at $624,000 after acquiring an additional 1,204 shares during the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC bought a new stake in shares of Bread Financial during the 3rd quarter valued at about $890,000. Assetmark Inc. boosted its position in shares of Bread Financial by 6.2% during the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 98,079 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,667,000 after acquiring an additional 5,752 shares during the last quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D bought a new stake in shares of Bread Financial during the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,676,000. Finally, Versor Investments LP bought a new stake in shares of Bread Financial during the 3rd quarter valued at about $695,000. Institutional investors own 99.52% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BFH has been the topic of a number of research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Bread Financial from $52.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Bread Financial from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on Bread Financial from $67.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Barclays raised their price objective on Bread Financial from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Bread Financial in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Bread Financial has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $59.69.

Bread Financial Price Performance

Shares of Bread Financial stock opened at $48.73 on Monday. 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 business’s 50 day simple moving average is $59.66 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $56.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.96. Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $32.10 and a one year high of $66.71.

Bread Financial (NYSE:BFH) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The company reported $0.41 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.07. Bread Financial had a return on equity of 12.41% and a net margin of 5.75%. Analysts forecast that Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. will post 6.45 EPS for the current year.

Bread Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.72%. Bread Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 15.14%.

Bread Financial announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, March 5th that allows the company to repurchase $150.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to repurchase up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

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.