Brighthouse Financial (NASDAQ:BHF) Reaches New 12-Month High Following Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Brighthouse Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:BHF) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Wednesday after Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on the stock from $48.00 to $60.00. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods currently has a market perform rating on the stock. Brighthouse Financial traded as high as $64.00 and last traded at $58.33, with a volume of 3111434 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $51.09.

Other equities analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on shares of Brighthouse Financial from $55.00 to $52.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Barclays upgraded shares of Brighthouse Financial from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $52.00 to $85.00 in a report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Brighthouse Financial from $42.00 to $41.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Brighthouse Financial from $59.00 to $56.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Brighthouse Financial currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $57.63.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Myles Lambert sold 8,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.70, for a total transaction of $434,280.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 33,407 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,727,141.90. This trade represents a 20.09 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 1.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Brighthouse Financial

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. UMB Bank n.a. grew its stake in shares of Brighthouse Financial by 974.1% during the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 623 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 565 shares during the period. Venturi Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Brighthouse Financial by 989.5% during the 3rd quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 621 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 564 shares during the period. CWM LLC grew its stake in shares of Brighthouse Financial by 29.4% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,491 shares of the company’s stock worth $67,000 after purchasing an additional 339 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Brighthouse Financial by 97.8% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,729 shares of the company’s stock worth $78,000 after purchasing an additional 855 shares during the period. Finally, Quarry LP acquired a new stake in shares of Brighthouse Financial during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $89,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.24% of the company’s stock.

Brighthouse Financial Stock Down 1.2 %

The stock has a market cap of $3.64 billion, a PE ratio of -3.01 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $50.10 and a 200-day moving average price of $47.63.

Brighthouse Financial (NASDAQ:BHF) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $3.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.50 by ($0.51). Brighthouse Financial had a negative net margin of 24.40% and a positive return on equity of 23.54%. The business had revenue of $2.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.21 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $4.18 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Brighthouse Financial, Inc. will post 18.2 earnings per share for the current 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.