Wells Fargo & Company Upgrades Brighthouse Financial (NASDAQ:BHF) to Equal Weight

Brighthouse Financial (NASDAQ:BHF) was upgraded by investment analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research report issued on Wednesday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports. The brokerage currently has a $59.00 price objective on the stock, up from their previous price objective of $41.00. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price objective indicates a potential downside of 6.07% from the company’s current price.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on BHF. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on Brighthouse Financial from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Barclays upgraded Brighthouse Financial from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $52.00 to $85.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Jefferies Financial Group cut Brighthouse Financial from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $64.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Brighthouse Financial from $59.00 to $56.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on Brighthouse Financial from $60.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $61.75.

Brighthouse Financial Stock Up 1.1 %

Brighthouse Financial stock opened at $62.81 on Wednesday. Brighthouse Financial has a fifty-two week low of $40.00 and a fifty-two week high of $64.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 0.92. The company has a market capitalization of $3.73 billion, a P/E ratio of -3.09 and a beta of 1.10. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $52.37 and a 200-day simple moving average of $48.68.

Brighthouse Financial (NASDAQ:BHF) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The company reported $5.88 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.56 by $1.32. Brighthouse Financial had a positive return on equity of 23.54% and a negative net margin of 24.40%. Equities research analysts expect that Brighthouse Financial will post 18.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Brighthouse Financial

In related news, EVP John Rosenthal sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 66,262 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,041,982. This represents a 13.11 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Myles Lambert sold 8,400 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.70, for a total value of $434,280.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 33,407 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,727,141.90. This represents a 20.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its stake in shares of Brighthouse Financial by 7.9% during the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 195,895 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,411,000 after purchasing an additional 14,316 shares during the period. Shay Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Brighthouse Financial during the 4th quarter worth $480,000. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH acquired a new stake in shares of Brighthouse Financial during the 4th quarter worth $94,000. Raiffeisen Bank International AG acquired a new stake in shares of Brighthouse Financial during the 4th quarter worth $488,000. Finally, Quantinno Capital Management LP increased its holdings in shares of Brighthouse Financial by 34.5% during the 4th quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 62,827 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,018,000 after buying an additional 16,120 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.24% of the company’s stock.

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.