Assetmark Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BFH)

Assetmark Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BFH) by 5.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 103,399 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,320 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc.’s holdings in Bread Financial were worth $6,314,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in BFH. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Bread Financial by 30.2% during the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 1,121,329 shares of the company’s stock valued at $53,353,000 after purchasing an additional 260,283 shares during the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Bread Financial by 38.2% in the 3rd quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 880,827 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,910,000 after acquiring an additional 243,419 shares during the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH raised its holdings in Bread Financial by 44.5% in the 4th quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 474,660 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,983,000 after acquiring an additional 146,244 shares during the last quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. purchased a new position in Bread Financial in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $6,001,000. Finally, Point72 Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new position in Bread Financial in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $4,276,000. 99.52% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on BFH. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of Bread Financial from $67.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Bread Financial from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Bread Financial in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Compass Point raised their target price on shares of Bread Financial from $75.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Bread Financial from an “underweight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $35.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $59.69.

Bread Financial Stock Performance

NYSE:BFH opened at $48.73 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $59.66 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $56.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 1.15. Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. has a 52-week low of $32.10 and a 52-week high of $66.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.39 billion, a PE ratio of 8.78, a P/E/G ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.96.

Bread Financial (NYSE:BFH) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The company reported $0.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 Announces Dividend

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 1.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. Bread Financial’s dividend payout ratio is 15.14%.

Bread Financial announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Wednesday, March 5th that permits the company to repurchase $150.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to purchase up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Bread Financial Company 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.