Brighthouse Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:BHF) Receives Consensus Rating of “Reduce” from Analysts

Shares of Brighthouse Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:BHF) have earned a consensus rating of “Reduce” from the eight brokerages that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have issued a hold recommendation and one has given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $51.38.

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Brighthouse Financial from $59.00 to $56.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on Brighthouse Financial from $55.00 to $52.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Barclays upped their price objective on Brighthouse Financial from $48.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Brighthouse Financial from $42.00 to $41.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Brighthouse Financial

In other news, EVP Myles Lambert sold 8,400 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.70, for a total value of $434,280.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 33,407 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,727,141.90. This represents a 20.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Brighthouse Financial

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in BHF. State Street Corp grew its stake in Brighthouse Financial by 2.2% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,314,905 shares of the company’s stock worth $104,240,000 after purchasing an additional 50,441 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Brighthouse Financial by 0.7% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,091,462 shares of the company’s stock worth $49,160,000 after purchasing an additional 8,004 shares during the period. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. grew its stake in Brighthouse Financial by 75.9% during the second quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. now owns 623,607 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,027,000 after purchasing an additional 269,062 shares during the period. Two Sigma Advisers LP grew its stake in Brighthouse Financial by 12.6% during the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 320,700 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,441,000 after purchasing an additional 35,800 shares during the period. Finally, Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in Brighthouse Financial by 278.0% during the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 280,270 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,147,000 after purchasing an additional 206,116 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.24% of the company’s stock.

Brighthouse Financial Stock Performance

NASDAQ:BHF opened at $50.68 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $49.48 and a 200-day moving average price of $47.34. The company has a market cap of $3.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.49 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 0.92. Brighthouse Financial has a fifty-two week low of $40.00 and a fifty-two week high of $54.73.

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