Brighthouse Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:BHF) Receives $63.80 Consensus Target Price from Brokerages

Shares of Brighthouse Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:BHF) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the eight ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $63.80.

Several brokerages have issued reports on BHF. Jefferies Financial Group lowered Brighthouse Financial from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $64.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. UBS Group set a $72.00 price target on shares of Brighthouse Financial in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Brighthouse Financial from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Raymond James raised Brighthouse Financial from a “market perform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $72.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised Brighthouse Financial from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $41.00 to $59.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Brighthouse Financial

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Brighthouse Financial

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of BHF. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its position in shares of Brighthouse Financial by 188.0% in the first quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 622 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 406 shares during the period. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Brighthouse Financial by 327.0% in the fourth quarter. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd now owns 918 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 703 shares during the period. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH purchased a new stake in shares of Brighthouse Financial in the fourth quarter worth $94,000. KBC Group NV raised its position in shares of Brighthouse Financial by 33.1% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,664 shares of the company’s stock worth $128,000 after buying an additional 663 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dark Forest Capital Management LP bought a new stake in Brighthouse Financial during the fourth quarter valued at $217,000. 81.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Brighthouse Financial Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:BHF opened at $53.88 on Monday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $57.15 and its 200 day simple moving average is $51.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.44 and a beta of 0.91. Brighthouse Financial has a 1 year low of $40.00 and a 1 year high of $64.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.92.

Brighthouse Financial (NASDAQ:BHF) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The company reported $5.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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, research analysts predict that Brighthouse Financial will post 20.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Brighthouse Financial

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.