Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BFH) Short Interest Update

Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BFH) was the recipient of a large decrease in short interest in January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,750,000 shares, a decrease of 20.8% from the December 31st total of 2,210,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 691,600 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.5 days. Currently, 3.6% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Bread Financial by 33.5% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,035 shares of the company’s stock valued at $49,000 after buying an additional 260 shares during the last quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd lifted its position in Bread Financial by 30.0% in the 2nd quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd now owns 1,721 shares of the company’s stock valued at $77,000 after purchasing an additional 397 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC boosted its stake in Bread Financial by 43.7% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,455 shares of the company’s stock valued at $117,000 after purchasing an additional 747 shares during the period. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. grew its position in Bread Financial by 64.6% in the 3rd quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. now owns 2,631 shares of the company’s stock worth $125,000 after purchasing an additional 1,033 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV increased its stake in shares of Bread Financial by 36.1% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,103 shares of the company’s stock valued at $128,000 after purchasing an additional 558 shares during the period. 99.52% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Bread Financial Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of BFH stock traded down $0.08 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $63.57. 1,350,762 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 599,172. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 1.19. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.12 and a beta of 1.94. Bread Financial has a one year low of $32.10 and a one year high of $66.71. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $61.69 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $55.49.

Bread Financial (NYSE:BFH) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The company reported $0.41 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.07. Bread Financial had a return on equity of 13.33% and a net margin of 6.37%. Sell-side analysts predict that Bread Financial will post 7.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bread Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.32%. Bread Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.38%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BFH has been the subject of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Bread Financial from an “underweight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $35.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Bread Financial from $52.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. TD Cowen upped their target price on Bread Financial from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Bread Financial from $52.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, 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. Two 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Bread Financial has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $57.46.

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.