First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. Purchases Shares of 3,892 Brighthouse Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:BHF)

First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. purchased a new stake in Brighthouse Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:BHF) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 3,892 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $206,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Brighthouse Financial by 138.5% in the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 27,007 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,429,000 after purchasing an additional 15,682 shares in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC boosted its stake in shares of Brighthouse Financial by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 9,012 shares of the company’s stock valued at $477,000 after purchasing an additional 412 shares in the last quarter. Bfsg LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Brighthouse Financial in the 4th quarter valued at $167,000. GAMMA Investing LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Brighthouse Financial in the 4th quarter valued at $60,000. Finally, Signaturefd LLC boosted its stake in shares of Brighthouse Financial by 13.7% in the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 3,736 shares of the company’s stock valued at $198,000 after purchasing an additional 450 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.24% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BHF has been the topic of several research reports. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Brighthouse Financial from $48.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Brighthouse Financial from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $52.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an “underperform” rating and set a $50.00 target price on shares of Brighthouse Financial in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Brighthouse Financial from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and four have assigned a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $51.14.

Brighthouse Financial Price Performance

NASDAQ BHF opened at $45.77 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $48.57 and a 200 day simple moving average of $49.83. Brighthouse Financial, Inc. has a 52-week low of $39.24 and a 52-week high of $56.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80. The stock has a market cap of $2.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.47 and a beta of 1.14.

Brighthouse Financial (NASDAQ:BHF) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The company reported $4.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.96 by $0.29. Brighthouse Financial had a positive return on equity of 20.71% and a negative net margin of 27.01%. The business had revenue of $2.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.14 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.86 EPS. Brighthouse Financial’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Brighthouse Financial, Inc. will post 17.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Eric T. Steigerwalt sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.96, for a total transaction of $1,174,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 390,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,350,324.40. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Vonda Huss sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.85, for a total transaction of $468,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 27,080 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,268,698. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Eric T. Steigerwalt sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.96, for a total value of $1,174,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 390,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,350,324.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Brighthouse Financial Profile

Brighthouse Financial, Inc provides annuity and life insurance products in the United States. It operates through three segments: Annuities, Life, and Run-off. The Annuities segment consists of variable, fixed, index-linked, and income annuities for contract holders' needs for protected wealth accumulation on a tax-deferred basis, wealth transfer, and income security.