Brighthouse Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:BHF) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of Brighthouse Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:BHF) have been given a consensus rating of “Hold” by the nine research firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $60.30.

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on BHF shares. Raymond James Financial raised Brighthouse Financial from a “market perform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $72.00 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Wall Street Zen lowered Brighthouse Financial from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, June 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on Brighthouse Financial from $56.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Brighthouse Financial from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Brighthouse Financial from $53.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th.

Brighthouse Financial Price Performance

Shares of BHF stock opened at $47.32 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. Brighthouse Financial has a twelve month low of $40.00 and a twelve month high of $64.12. The company has a market cap of $2.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.67 and a beta of 0.88. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $56.72 and a 200 day simple moving average of $55.38.

Brighthouse Financial (NASDAQ:BHF) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $4.17 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.72 by ($0.55). Brighthouse Financial had a return on equity of 25.60% and a net margin of 8.71%. The business had revenue of $2.16 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.29 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $4.25 earnings per share. Brighthouse Financial’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Brighthouse Financial will post 20.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Vonda Huss sold 3,000 shares of Brighthouse Financial stock in a transaction on Monday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.51, for a total transaction of $178,530.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 18,441 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,097,423.91. This trade represents a 13.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Brighthouse Financial

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its stake in shares of Brighthouse Financial by 187.3% in the fourth quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 1,823,162 shares of the company’s stock valued at $87,585,000 after buying an additional 1,188,685 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Brighthouse Financial in the fourth quarter valued at $37,131,000. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Brighthouse Financial by 156.9% in the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 656,464 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,537,000 after buying an additional 400,924 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada raised its stake in shares of Brighthouse Financial by 41.0% in the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 985,215 shares of the company’s stock valued at $57,134,000 after buying an additional 286,607 shares during the period. Finally, Algebris UK Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Brighthouse Financial in the first quarter valued at $11,761,000. 81.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.