Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. Boosts Holdings in Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. $BFH

Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its holdings in shares of Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BFH) by 38,301.2% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 215,815 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 215,253 shares during the quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co.’s holdings in Bread Financial were worth $15,977,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in BFH. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Bread Financial by 4.5% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 29,589 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,482,000 after acquiring an additional 1,286 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Bread Financial by 46.5% during the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 345,902 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,323,000 after acquiring an additional 109,864 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Bread Financial by 104.8% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 736,604 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,889,000 after acquiring an additional 376,920 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its stake in shares of Bread Financial by 3.0% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 157,833 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,904,000 after acquiring an additional 4,624 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Strs Ohio purchased a new position in shares of Bread Financial during the first quarter worth approximately $65,000. 99.52% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BFH has been the topic of several research reports. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Bread Financial from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Bread Financial from $100.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Bank of America set a $92.00 price target on shares of Bread Financial and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 11th. BTIG Research raised their target price on shares of Bread Financial from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Bread Financial from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, February 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Bread Financial presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $93.36.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Roger H. Ballou sold 9,687 shares of Bread Financial stock in a transaction on Friday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.32, for a total value of $874,929.84. Following the sale, the director owned 30,079 shares in the company, valued at $2,716,735.28. The trade was a 24.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 1.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Bread Financial Stock Performance

NYSE:BFH opened at $87.77 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $3.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 1.12. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $80.60 and its 200 day simple moving average is $74.82. Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. has a twelve month low of $49.17 and a twelve month high of $99.13. The company has a quick ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25.

Bread Financial (NYSE:BFH) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The company reported $4.18 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.00 by $1.18. The business had revenue of $1.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $992.05 million. Bread Financial had a net margin of 11.90% and a return on equity of 18.79%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.86 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. will post 10.59 EPS for the current year.

Bread Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Investors of record on Friday, May 29th will be issued a $0.23 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 29th. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. Bread Financial’s payout ratio is 7.53%.

Bread Financial announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, February 26th that authorizes the company to repurchase $600.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to buy up to 19% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

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.