The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Takes Position in Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. $BFH

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company bought a new stake in shares of Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BFH) in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 19,569 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,120,000.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Bread Financial in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $421,314,000. Millennium Management LLC grew its holdings in Bread Financial by 223.4% during the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 665,812 shares of the company’s stock valued at $49,290,000 after purchasing an additional 459,916 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE increased its position in Bread Financial by 241.1% in the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 537,656 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,711,000 after buying an additional 380,039 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in Bread Financial by 104.8% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 736,604 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,889,000 after buying an additional 376,920 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in shares of Bread Financial in the second quarter valued at $39,468,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.52% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $116.00 price target on shares of Bread Financial in a research report on Monday, July 6th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on Bread Financial from $103.00 to $114.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Wolfe Research upgraded Bread Financial from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $130.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 25th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $115.00 price objective on shares of Bread Financial in a report on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Bread Financial from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $112.08.

Bread Financial Price Performance

Bread Financial stock opened at $106.76 on Thursday. Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $53.83 and a one year high of $114.53. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $105.31 and a 200-day moving average price of $90.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 1.17 and a quick ratio of 1.17. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.33, a PEG ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.10.

Bread Financial (NYSE:BFH) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The company reported $3.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.74 by $0.81. The company had revenue of $993.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $959.32 million. Bread Financial had a return on equity of 18.42% and a net margin of 11.95%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.15 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. will post 12.1 EPS for the current year.

Bread Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 31st will be given a dividend of $0.23 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 31st. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Bread Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 7.18%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Praniti Lakhwara sold 2,802 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.12, for a total value of $297,348.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 4,458 shares in the company, valued at approximately $473,082.96. This trade represents a 38.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

Bread Financial Profile

Bread Financial, formerly known as Alliance Data Systems, is a Columbus, Ohio–based financial services company that specializes in providing private label credit programs, co-brand credit cards and digital payment solutions for retail partners. The company designs, issues and services proprietary credit products, enabling merchants to offer branded financing options that drive customer loyalty and increase basket sizes at the point of sale. Through its Bread technology platform, Bread Financial delivers installment-based payment options that integrate directly into e-commerce and in-store checkout experiences.

In addition to its core credit offerings, Bread Financial provides analytics, marketing and loyalty services to help merchants better understand consumer behavior and optimize promotional strategies.