Brighthouse Financial (NASDAQ:BHF) Upgraded to “Hold” at Zacks Research

Brighthouse Financial (NASDAQ:BHF) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Zacks Research from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other equities analysts also recently issued reports on BHF. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Brighthouse Financial in a research note on Monday. Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $53.00 target price on shares of Brighthouse Financial in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on Brighthouse Financial from $65.00 to $55.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Brighthouse Financial from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Brighthouse Financial from $50.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, November 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $63.70.

Brighthouse Financial Stock Down 0.3%

BHF stock opened at $64.98 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $3.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.43 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. Brighthouse Financial has a twelve month low of $42.07 and a twelve month high of $66.33. The company’s 50 day moving average is $59.05 and its two-hundred day moving average is $53.71.

Brighthouse Financial (NASDAQ:BHF) last issued its earnings results on Friday, November 7th. The company reported $4.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $5.09 by ($0.55). The company had revenue of $2.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.26 billion. Brighthouse Financial had a net margin of 15.39% and a return on equity of 20.59%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.99 EPS. Research analysts expect that Brighthouse Financial will post 20.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Brighthouse Financial

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Brighthouse Financial by 1.3% in the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,449,923 shares of the company’s stock valued at $183,131,000 after purchasing an additional 42,652 shares during the period. UBS Group AG grew its position in Brighthouse Financial by 98.1% in the 3rd quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 3,413,278 shares of the company’s stock valued at $181,177,000 after buying an additional 1,690,064 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in Brighthouse Financial by 10.4% in the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,210,276 shares of the company’s stock valued at $117,321,000 after buying an additional 208,630 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Brighthouse Financial by 190.7% in the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,396,245 shares of the company’s stock valued at $74,113,000 after buying an additional 915,902 shares during the period. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised its position in Brighthouse Financial by 41.0% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 985,215 shares of the company’s stock worth $57,134,000 after buying an additional 286,607 shares during the last quarter. 81.24% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.