Wells Fargo & Company Lowers Brighthouse Financial (NASDAQ:BHF) Price Target to $52.00

Brighthouse Financial (NASDAQ:BHF) had its price objective cut by investment analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $59.00 to $52.00 in a research note issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “equal weight” rating on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price objective points to a potential upside of 8.74% from the company’s current price.

BHF has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Barclays raised Brighthouse Financial from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $52.00 to $85.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Brighthouse Financial from $52.00 to $41.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Brighthouse Financial from $59.00 to $56.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. UBS Group set a $72.00 price target on shares of Brighthouse Financial in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Brighthouse Financial from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $64.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $62.00.

Brighthouse Financial Stock Performance

NASDAQ:BHF opened at $47.82 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $2.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.27 and a beta of 0.91. Brighthouse Financial has a fifty-two week low of $40.00 and a fifty-two week high of $64.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 0.93. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $56.66 and a 200-day moving average price of $52.01.

Brighthouse Financial (NASDAQ:BHF) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The company reported $5.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.56 by $1.32. Brighthouse Financial had a net margin of 8.21% and a return on equity of 26.94%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Brighthouse Financial will post 20.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Brighthouse Financial

In other news, EVP John Rosenthal sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.00, for a total transaction of $610,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 66,262 shares in the company, valued at $4,041,982. This represents a 13.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Brighthouse Financial

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Brighthouse Financial by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,314,905 shares of the company’s stock valued at $104,240,000 after purchasing an additional 50,441 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Brighthouse Financial by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,091,462 shares of the company’s stock worth $49,160,000 after buying an additional 8,004 shares in the last quarter. Range Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Brighthouse Financial during the 4th quarter worth approximately $826,000. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of Brighthouse Financial in the 4th quarter valued at $312,000. Finally, KBC Group NV increased its stake in shares of Brighthouse Financial by 33.1% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,664 shares of the company’s stock valued at $128,000 after acquiring an additional 663 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.24% of the company’s stock.

Brighthouse Financial Company 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.