Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Makes New Investment in Brighthouse Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:BHF)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new position in Brighthouse Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:BHF) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 18,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $953,000.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Brighthouse Financial by 123.2% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 732 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 404 shares in the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Brighthouse Financial by 23.0% during the fourth quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 2,046 shares of the company’s stock valued at $108,000 after purchasing an additional 382 shares in the last quarter. Red Door Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Brighthouse Financial during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $202,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale bought a new position in shares of Brighthouse Financial during the third quarter valued at approximately $217,000. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its stake in shares of Brighthouse Financial by 85.0% during the third quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 4,536 shares of the company’s stock valued at $222,000 after purchasing an additional 2,084 shares in the last quarter. 81.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Vonda Huss sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.85, for a total transaction of $468,500.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 27,080 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,268,698. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, EVP Vonda Huss sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.85, for a total transaction of $468,500.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 27,080 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,268,698. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Eric T. Steigerwalt sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.96, for a total transaction of $1,174,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 390,765 shares in the company, valued at $18,350,324.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

Brighthouse Financial Price Performance

Shares of BHF opened at $49.03 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $48.32 and a two-hundred day moving average of $49.79. The company has a market cap of $3.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.64 and a beta of 1.16. Brighthouse Financial, Inc. has a twelve month low of $39.24 and a twelve month high of $56.24. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63.

Brighthouse Financial (NASDAQ:BHF) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 13th. The company reported $2.92 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.83 by ($0.91). The company had revenue of $1.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.13 billion. Brighthouse Financial had a negative net margin of 27.01% and a positive return on equity of 20.71%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.51 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Brighthouse Financial, Inc. will post 17.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on BHF. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated an “underperform” rating and set a $50.00 price objective on shares of Brighthouse Financial in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Brighthouse Financial from $48.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Brighthouse Financial from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $52.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Brighthouse Financial from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and four have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Brighthouse Financial currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $51.14.

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.