Brighthouse Financial (NASDAQ:BHF) Lowered to “Hold” Rating by Jefferies Financial Group

Brighthouse Financial (NASDAQ:BHF) was downgraded by analysts at Jefferies Financial Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report issued on Monday, MarketBeat reports. They presently have a $64.00 price objective on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group’s target price indicates a potential upside of 3.71% from the company’s previous close.

BHF has been the topic of several other reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Brighthouse Financial from $59.00 to $56.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Barclays raised Brighthouse Financial from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $52.00 to $85.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Brighthouse Financial from $42.00 to $41.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on Brighthouse Financial from $55.00 to $52.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on Brighthouse Financial from $48.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Brighthouse Financial has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $57.75.

Brighthouse Financial Stock Performance

BHF opened at $61.71 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $3.66 billion, a P/E ratio of -3.04 and a beta of 1.08. Brighthouse Financial has a 52-week low of $40.00 and a 52-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 business’s fifty day moving average is $50.30 and its 200-day moving average is $47.70.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Myles Lambert sold 8,400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.70, for a total transaction of $434,280.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 33,407 shares in the company, valued at $1,727,141.90. The trade was a 20.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Brighthouse Financial

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of BHF. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its position in shares of Brighthouse Financial by 974.1% during the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 623 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 565 shares during the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Brighthouse Financial by 989.5% during the third quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 621 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 564 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC boosted its position in shares of Brighthouse Financial by 29.4% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,491 shares of the company’s stock valued at $67,000 after buying an additional 339 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Brighthouse Financial by 97.8% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,729 shares of the company’s stock valued at $78,000 after buying an additional 855 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV boosted its position in shares of Brighthouse Financial by 30.2% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,001 shares of the company’s stock valued at $90,000 after buying an additional 464 shares during the last quarter. 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.