Brighthouse Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:BHF) Given Average Recommendation of “Reduce” by Brokerages

Brighthouse Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:BHF) has received an average rating of “Reduce” from the eleven research firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation and seven have given a hold recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $60.8571.

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings downgraded Brighthouse Financial from a “hold (c)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Monday, May 11th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Brighthouse Financial from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Monday, March 30th. Argus raised shares of Brighthouse Financial to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 26th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued a “hold” rating and set a $67.00 target price on shares of Brighthouse Financial in a research note on Thursday, March 26th.

Brighthouse Financial Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of BHF stock opened at $62.70 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $3.60 billion, a P/E ratio of -21.04 and a beta of 0.87. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $60.95 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $62.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.91. Brighthouse Financial has a fifty-two week low of $42.07 and a fifty-two week high of $66.33.

Brighthouse Financial (NASDAQ:BHF) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $4.35 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.57 by ($0.22). The business had revenue of $2.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.20 billion. Brighthouse Financial had a positive return on equity of 16.88% and a negative net margin of 1.10%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 29.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $4.17 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Brighthouse Financial will post 19.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Brighthouse Financial

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Brighthouse Financial by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,555,823 shares of the company’s stock worth $212,926,000 after purchasing an additional 60,791 shares in the last quarter. UBS Group AG increased its position in shares of Brighthouse Financial by 98.1% during the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 3,413,278 shares of the company’s stock worth $181,177,000 after acquiring an additional 1,690,064 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in shares of Brighthouse Financial by 10.4% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,210,276 shares of the company’s stock worth $117,321,000 after acquiring an additional 208,630 shares in the last quarter. HBK Investments L P bought a new stake in shares of Brighthouse Financial during the fourth quarter worth about $136,059,000. Finally, Glazer Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Brighthouse Financial during the fourth quarter worth about $113,252,000. 81.24% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Brighthouse Financial

Brighthouse Financial, Inc is a U.S.-based life insurance company that specializes in retirement income solutions and annuity products. The firm was established in August 2017 as a spin-off from MetLife, Inc, and is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. Since its separation, Brighthouse Financial has focused on providing products designed to help individuals and families manage retirement income needs, drawing on decades of experience in life insurance and annuity administration inherited from its parent company.

The company’s core product offerings include fixed indexed annuities, which allow policyholders to participate in market-linked gains while protecting against downside market risk, and single premium immediate annuities, which provide guaranteed lifetime income.