Pinnacle Holdings LLC Acquires Shares of 750 Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BFH)

Pinnacle Holdings LLC bought a new position in Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BFH) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm bought 750 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $46,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in BFH. Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Bread Financial by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 30,641 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,871,000 after purchasing an additional 305 shares in the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its stake in Bread Financial by 13.2% in the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 203,376 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,418,000 after buying an additional 23,646 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Bread Financial by 4.4% during the 4th quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 9,404 shares of the company’s stock worth $574,000 after purchasing an additional 395 shares in the last quarter. Integrated Quantitative Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Bread Financial in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $366,000. Finally, ExodusPoint Capital Management LP grew its position in Bread Financial by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. ExodusPoint Capital Management LP now owns 101,222 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,181,000 after purchasing an additional 894 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 99.52% of the company’s stock.

Bread Financial Stock Down 3.2 %

Shares of NYSE BFH opened at $42.54 on Wednesday. Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $32.10 and a one year high of $66.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.66, a PEG ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.58. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $53.57 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $55.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 1.15 and a quick ratio of 1.15.

Bread Financial (NYSE:BFH) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The company reported $0.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.07. Bread Financial had a net margin of 5.75% and a return on equity of 12.41%. As a group, analysts expect that Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. will post 6.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bread Financial declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Wednesday, March 5th that authorizes the company to buyback $150.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to reacquire up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Bread Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.97%. Bread Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 15.14%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have weighed in on BFH shares. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on Bread Financial from $68.00 to $58.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Compass Point upped their price objective on Bread Financial from $75.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Morgan Stanley cut Bread Financial from an “overweight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $33.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Monday. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Bread Financial in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Bread Financial from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $57.08.

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.