Nierenberg Investment Management Company Inc. Lowers Holdings in Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BFH)

Nierenberg Investment Management Company Inc. cut its stake in shares of Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BFH) by 40.7% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 27,680 shares of the company’s stock after selling 19,000 shares during the period. Bread Financial comprises about 0.9% of Nierenberg Investment Management Company Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 15th largest position. Nierenberg Investment Management Company Inc.’s holdings in Bread Financial were worth $1,690,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of BFH. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Bread Financial by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,848,495 shares of the company’s stock worth $357,109,000 after buying an additional 36,057 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in Bread Financial by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,034,554 shares of the company’s stock valued at $96,804,000 after acquiring an additional 41,012 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in Bread Financial by 6.8% during the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,382,135 shares of the company’s stock valued at $84,393,000 after purchasing an additional 88,081 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Bread Financial by 31.1% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,207,404 shares of the company’s stock worth $73,724,000 after purchasing an additional 286,720 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Bread Financial by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,155,989 shares of the company’s stock worth $55,012,000 after buying an additional 13,459 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.52% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BFH has been the topic of several analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on shares of Bread Financial from $68.00 to $58.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of Bread Financial from $67.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Bread Financial in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Bread Financial from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on shares of Bread Financial from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $57.08.

Bread Financial Stock Up 4.9 %

Shares of Bread Financial stock opened at $43.93 on Tuesday. Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. has a 52-week low of $32.10 and a 52-week high of $66.71. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $54.40 and its 200-day moving average price is $56.07. The company has a quick ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The company has a market cap of $2.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.91, a PEG ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.58.

Bread Financial (NYSE:BFH) last posted 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%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. will post 6.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bread Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.91%. Bread Financial’s payout ratio is 15.14%.

Bread Financial announced that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, March 5th that authorizes the company to repurchase $150.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to repurchase up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s leadership 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.