Brighthouse Financial (NASDAQ:BHF) Upgraded at Zacks Research

Zacks Research upgraded shares of Brighthouse Financial (NASDAQ:BHF) from a strong sell rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

Other analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Brighthouse Financial in a report on Monday. Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating and set a $53.00 price objective on shares of Brighthouse Financial in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on Brighthouse Financial from $50.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 7th. Morgan Stanley set a $70.00 price target on shares of Brighthouse Financial in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Brighthouse Financial in a research report on Wednesday, November 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $63.70.

Brighthouse Financial Trading Down 0.1%

NASDAQ BHF opened at $64.91 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.43 and a beta of 0.97. Brighthouse Financial has a 52 week low of $42.07 and a 52 week high of $66.33. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $59.40 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $53.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.95.

Brighthouse Financial (NASDAQ:BHF) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 7th. The company reported $4.54 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $5.09 by ($0.55). The company had revenue of $2.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.26 billion. Brighthouse Financial had a net margin of 15.39% and a return on equity of 20.59%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.99 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Brighthouse Financial will post 20.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Brighthouse Financial

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Brighthouse Financial by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,449,923 shares of the company’s stock valued at $183,131,000 after purchasing an additional 42,652 shares during the last quarter. UBS Group AG boosted its stake in Brighthouse Financial by 98.1% in the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 3,413,278 shares of the company’s stock worth $181,177,000 after buying an additional 1,690,064 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in Brighthouse Financial by 10.4% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,210,276 shares of the company’s stock worth $117,321,000 after buying an additional 208,630 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in Brighthouse Financial by 190.7% during the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,396,245 shares of the company’s stock valued at $74,113,000 after acquiring an additional 915,902 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised its stake in shares of Brighthouse Financial by 41.0% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 985,215 shares of the company’s stock worth $57,134,000 after acquiring an additional 286,607 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.24% of the company’s stock.

About Brighthouse Financial

Brighthouse Financial, Inc is a U.S.-based life insurance company that specializes in retirement income solutions and annuity products. The firm was established in August 2017 as a spin-off from MetLife, Inc, and is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. Since its separation, Brighthouse Financial has focused on providing products designed to help individuals and families manage retirement income needs, drawing on decades of experience in life insurance and annuity administration inherited from its parent company.

The company’s core product offerings include fixed indexed annuities, which allow policyholders to participate in market-linked gains while protecting against downside market risk, and single premium immediate annuities, which provide guaranteed lifetime income.