Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Increases Brighthouse Financial (NASDAQ:BHF) Price Target to $60.00

Brighthouse Financial (NASDAQ:BHF) had its price target increased by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $48.00 to $60.00 in a research note released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a market perform rating on the stock.

BHF has been the topic of a number of other research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Brighthouse Financial from $59.00 to $56.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Piper Sandler cut their target price on shares of 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 raised shares of Brighthouse Financial from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $52.00 to $85.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Brighthouse Financial from $42.00 to $41.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $57.63.

Brighthouse Financial Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ BHF opened at $61.71 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.66 billion, a PE ratio of -3.04 and a beta of 1.08. Brighthouse Financial has a fifty-two week low of $40.00 and a fifty-two 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 stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $50.30 and its 200-day simple moving average is $47.72.

Brighthouse Financial (NASDAQ:BHF) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $3.99 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.50 by ($0.51). The business had revenue of $2.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 period in the previous year, the firm earned $4.18 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Brighthouse Financial will post 18.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Myles Lambert sold 8,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.70, for a total value of $434,280.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 33,407 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,727,141.90. This trade represents a 20.09 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Brighthouse Financial

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of BHF. State Street Corp boosted its position 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. Range Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Brighthouse Financial in the fourth quarter worth $826,000. GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new position in shares of Brighthouse Financial during the 3rd quarter worth about $1,311,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in Brighthouse Financial by 102.1% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 160,399 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,223,000 after purchasing an additional 81,040 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Brighthouse Financial by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,091,462 shares of the company’s stock valued at $49,160,000 after buying an additional 8,004 shares in the last quarter. 81.24% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.