Bread Financial (NYSE:BFH) Upgraded at Evercore ISI

Bread Financial (NYSE:BFH) was upgraded by Evercore ISI from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. BTIG Research reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $98.00 price target on shares of Bread Financial in a report on Friday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and set a $72.00 target price on shares of Bread Financial in a report on Thursday, December 4th. Evercore raised Bread Financial from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $90.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Bread Financial in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Bread Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $84.00 price target on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $80.09.

Bread Financial Stock Up 2.9%

Bread Financial stock traded up $2.20 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $79.39. The stock had a trading volume of 763,376 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,056,575. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $73.82 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $65.90. Bread Financial has a 12 month low of $38.21 and a 12 month high of $82.03. The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The company has a market capitalization of $3.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.32, a PEG ratio of 0.49 and a beta of 1.26.

Bread Financial (NYSE:BFH) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The company reported $2.07 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.40 by $1.67. Bread Financial had a net margin of 11.02% and a return on equity of 17.92%. The business had revenue of $975.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $954.74 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.41 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Bread Financial will post 6.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bread Financial announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Thursday, October 23rd that allows the company to repurchase $200.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to repurchase up to 7.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of BFH. AlphaQuest LLC bought a new position in shares of Bread Financial during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,620,000. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp purchased a new position in Bread Financial in the second quarter worth $1,142,000. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its position in shares of Bread Financial by 748.3% during the third quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 17,347 shares of the company’s stock worth $967,000 after purchasing an additional 15,302 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Bread Financial during the 2nd quarter valued at $16,599,000. Finally, Mizuho Markets Americas LLC boosted its position in shares of Bread Financial by 11.5% in the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC now owns 363,445 shares of the company’s stock worth $20,269,000 after purchasing an additional 37,466 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.52% of the company’s stock.

About Bread Financial

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.