Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. Purchases Shares of 158,693 Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. $BFH

Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. purchased a new stake in Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BFH) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund purchased 158,693 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,194,000.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in BFH. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Bread Financial by 2.6% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,842 shares of the company’s stock worth $416,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its position in Bread Financial by 5.6% in the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 3,535 shares of the company’s stock valued at $262,000 after purchasing an additional 187 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position in Bread Financial by 58.7% in the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 614 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 227 shares during the period. Vista Investment Management lifted its stake in Bread Financial by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Vista Investment Management now owns 22,858 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,692,000 after purchasing an additional 241 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LLC lifted its stake in Bread Financial by 6.6% during the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 4,206 shares of the company’s stock worth $311,000 after purchasing an additional 259 shares in the last quarter. 99.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on BFH. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Bread Financial in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Barclays increased their target price on Bread Financial from $104.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. BTIG Research raised their target price on Bread Financial from $105.00 to $132.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. Morgan Stanley set a $107.00 target price on Bread Financial in a report on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Seaport Research Partners reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $119.00 target price on shares of Bread Financial in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $112.08.

Insider Activity

In other Bread Financial news, CEO Ralph J. Andretta sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.10, for a total transaction of $1,336,500.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 582,241 shares in the company, valued at $51,877,673.10. This represents a 2.51% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Praniti Lakhwara sold 2,802 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.12, for a total value of $297,348.24. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 4,458 shares in the company, valued at $473,082.96. This represents a 38.60% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 1.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Bread Financial Stock Performance

Shares of BFH stock opened at $107.60 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $105.13 and a two-hundred day moving average of $89.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.13 billion, a PE ratio of 8.39, a P/E/G ratio of 0.68 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a quick ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. has a 52 week low of $53.83 and a 52 week high of $114.53.

Bread Financial (NYSE:BFH) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The company reported $3.55 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.74 by $0.81. The business had revenue of $993.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $959.32 million. Bread Financial had a return on equity of 18.42% and a net margin of 11.95%.The company’s revenue was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.15 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. will post 12.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bread Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 15th. Investors of record on Monday, August 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.23 per share. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 31st. Bread Financial’s payout ratio is presently 7.18%.

Bread Financial Company Profile

Bread Financial, formerly known as Alliance Data Systems, is a Columbus, Ohio–based financial services company that specializes in providing private label credit programs, co-brand credit cards and digital payment solutions for retail partners. The company designs, issues and services proprietary credit products, enabling merchants to offer branded financing options that drive customer loyalty and increase basket sizes at the point of sale. Through its Bread technology platform, Bread Financial delivers installment-based payment options that integrate directly into e-commerce and in-store checkout experiences.

In addition to its core credit offerings, Bread Financial provides analytics, marketing and loyalty services to help merchants better understand consumer behavior and optimize promotional strategies.