Morgan Stanley Cuts Brighthouse Financial (NASDAQ:BHF) Price Target to $42.00

Brighthouse Financial (NASDAQ:BHF) had its price target decreased by Morgan Stanley from $45.00 to $42.00 in a research report released on Monday,Benzinga reports. Morgan Stanley currently has an underweight rating on the stock.

Several other research firms also recently commented on BHF. Barclays reduced their price objective on Brighthouse Financial from $76.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 7th. Raymond James Financial raised Brighthouse Financial from a “market perform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $72.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. UBS Group set a $72.00 target price on Brighthouse Financial in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on Brighthouse Financial from $63.00 to $55.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 3rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on Brighthouse Financial from $56.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $60.30.

Brighthouse Financial Trading Up 6.2%

BHF opened at $50.27 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $56.56 and its two-hundred day moving average is $55.34. The company has a market capitalization of $2.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.03 and a beta of 0.88. Brighthouse Financial has a 52 week low of $40.00 and a 52 week high of $64.12. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59.

Brighthouse Financial (NASDAQ:BHF) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $4.17 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.72 by ($0.55). The firm had revenue of $2.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.29 billion. Brighthouse Financial had a return on equity of 25.60% and a net margin of 8.71%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $4.25 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Brighthouse Financial will post 20.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Brighthouse Financial

In other news, EVP Vonda Huss sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.51, for a total value of $178,530.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 18,441 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,097,423.91. This trade represents a 13.99% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Brighthouse Financial

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BHF. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its position in Brighthouse Financial by 187.3% during the 4th quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 1,823,162 shares of the company’s stock worth $87,585,000 after acquiring an additional 1,188,685 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Brighthouse Financial during the 4th quarter worth about $37,131,000. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Brighthouse Financial by 156.9% during the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 656,464 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,537,000 after acquiring an additional 400,924 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada lifted 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 acquiring an additional 286,607 shares during the period. Finally, Algebris UK Ltd acquired a new stake in Brighthouse Financial during the 1st quarter worth about $11,761,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.24% of the company’s stock.

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.