Brighthouse Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:BHF) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Brokerages

Brighthouse Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:BHF) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the eight ratings firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have given a hold recommendation, one has assigned a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $59.6667.

A number of research firms recently issued reports on BHF. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Brighthouse Financial from $45.00 to $42.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Brighthouse Financial from $70.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Brighthouse Financial from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, June 21st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Brighthouse Financial from $53.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on shares of Brighthouse Financial from $57.00 to $50.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 11th.

Brighthouse Financial Stock Performance

Shares of BHF stock opened at $44.69 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.84 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 0.93. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $48.70 and a 200 day simple moving average of $53.90. Brighthouse Financial has a 52 week low of $40.00 and a 52 week high of $64.12.

Brighthouse Financial (NASDAQ:BHF) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $3.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.70 by ($1.27). The business had revenue of $2.15 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.21 billion. Brighthouse Financial had a net margin of 10.24% and a return on equity of 21.06%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $5.57 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Brighthouse Financial will post 20.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Brighthouse Financial

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Brighthouse Financial by 66.5% in the second quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 566 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 226 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its holdings in Brighthouse Financial by 188.0% in the first quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 622 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 406 shares during the period. IFP Advisors Inc grew its holdings in Brighthouse Financial by 1,900.0% in the second quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 740 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 703 shares during the period. Brooklyn Investment Group grew its holdings in Brighthouse Financial by 42.0% in the first quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 764 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 226 shares during the period. Finally, Ameriflex Group Inc. grew its holdings in Brighthouse Financial by 12,371.4% in the second quarter. Ameriflex Group Inc. now owns 873 shares of the company’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 866 shares during the period. 81.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.