9,488 Shares in Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BFH) Purchased by New Age Alpha Advisors LLC

New Age Alpha Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BFH) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 9,488 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $579,000.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Bread Financial by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 730,531 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,759,000 after acquiring an additional 13,484 shares during the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. lifted its stake in Bread Financial by 4.1% during the third quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 24,516 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,166,000 after purchasing an additional 976 shares in the last quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Bread Financial during the third quarter worth $6,001,000. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Bread Financial by 64.6% in the third quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. now owns 2,631 shares of the company’s stock valued at $125,000 after buying an additional 1,033 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Paloma Partners Management Co purchased a new stake in shares of Bread Financial in the 3rd quarter valued at $747,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.52% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on BFH. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on 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 research note on Monday, February 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on shares of Bread Financial from $68.00 to $58.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Barclays upped their price objective on Bread Financial from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded Bread Financial from an “underweight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $35.00 to $76.00 in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $59.69.

Bread Financial Stock Performance

Shares of BFH opened at $50.08 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.96. Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. has a 52-week low of $32.10 and a 52-week high of $66.71. 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 stock has a 50 day moving average price of $56.19 and a 200 day moving average price of $56.23.

Bread Financial (NYSE:BFH) last issued its 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%. Research analysts predict that Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. will post 6.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bread Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.68%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. Bread Financial’s payout ratio is 15.14%.

Bread Financial announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, March 5th that permits the company to repurchase $150.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to repurchase up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s board 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.