Bread Financial (NYSE:BFH) Price Target Cut to $58.00 by Analysts at The Goldman Sachs Group

Bread Financial (NYSE:BFH) had its price target decreased by The Goldman Sachs Group from $68.00 to $58.00 in a research report report published on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. The Goldman Sachs Group currently has a sell rating on the stock.

Several other brokerages have also recently commented on BFH. Barclays raised their target price 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. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Bread Financial from an “underweight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $35.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Bread Financial in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of Bread Financial from $67.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Compass Point increased their price target on shares of Bread Financial from $75.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $59.69.

Bread Financial Stock Performance

Shares of BFH opened at $49.74 on Tuesday. Bread Financial has a one year low of $32.10 and a one year high of $66.71. The company has a 50-day moving average of $57.44 and a two-hundred day moving average of $56.31. The stock has a market cap of $2.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.96, a PEG ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.96. 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 announced 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 net margin of 5.75% and a return on equity of 12.41%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Bread Financial will post 6.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Bread Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 21st. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. Bread Financial’s payout ratio is presently 15.14%.

Bread Financial declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, March 5th that allows the company to buyback $150.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to buy up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Bread Financial

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BFH. World Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Bread Financial in the third quarter valued at approximately $810,000. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Bread Financial by 1.2% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,155,989 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,012,000 after purchasing an additional 13,459 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Bread Financial in the third quarter valued at approximately $3,550,000. US Bancorp DE raised its position in shares of Bread Financial by 15.1% in the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 15,087 shares of the company’s stock valued at $921,000 after purchasing an additional 1,977 shares during the period. Finally, Factorial Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Bread Financial by 78.9% in the third quarter. Factorial Partners LLC now owns 34,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,618,000 after purchasing an additional 15,000 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 99.52% of the company’s stock.

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.