Hsbc Holdings PLC Buys 78,229 Shares of Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. $BFH

Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its stake in shares of Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BFH) by 9.8% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 880,116 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 78,229 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC’s holdings in Bread Financial were worth $65,383,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in BFH. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Bread Financial by 0.6% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,273,797 shares of the company’s stock worth $294,120,000 after buying an additional 30,962 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Bread Financial by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,076,004 shares of the company’s stock valued at $171,557,000 after acquiring an additional 16,143 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in shares of Bread Financial by 17.3% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,029,894 shares of the company’s stock worth $150,273,000 after acquiring an additional 299,439 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in shares of Bread Financial by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,555,968 shares of the company’s stock worth $86,776,000 after acquiring an additional 65,223 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Bread Financial by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,159,731 shares of the company’s stock worth $85,866,000 after purchasing an additional 14,257 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.52% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Bread Financial in a research report on Wednesday, June 10th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Bread Financial from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Bread Financial from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Bank of America restated a “buy” rating and issued a $108.00 price objective on shares of Bread Financial in a research note on Wednesday, June 10th. Finally, Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $99.00 price objective on shares of Bread Financial in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $96.42.

Bread Financial Trading Up 1.4%

BFH stock opened at $103.86 on Tuesday. Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. has a 1-year low of $53.26 and a 1-year high of $105.20. The company has a current ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The business’s 50 day moving average is $89.96 and its 200-day moving average is $79.68. The firm has a market cap of $4.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.51, a P/E/G ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 1.12.

Bread Financial (NYSE:BFH) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The company reported $4.18 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.00 by $1.18. The business had revenue of $1.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $992.05 million. Bread Financial had a return on equity of 18.79% and a net margin of 11.90%.Bread Financial’s revenue was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.86 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. will post 10.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bread Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 29th were issued a dividend of $0.23 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 29th. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Bread Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.53%.

Bread Financial declared that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Thursday, February 26th that permits the company to repurchase $600.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to reacquire up to 19% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director John J. Fawcett bought 698 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 21st. The stock was acquired at an average price of $86.43 per share, for a total transaction of $60,328.14. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 11,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $950,730. This trade represents a 6.78% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Ralph J. Andretta sold 15,000 shares of Bread Financial stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.10, for a total transaction of $1,336,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 582,241 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $51,877,673.10. This represents a 2.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 1.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.