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

Brighthouse Financial (NASDAQ:BHF - Get Free Report) had its price objective upped by equities research analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $48.00 to $60.00 in a note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a "market perform" rating on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods' target price suggests a potential downside of 2.06% from the stock's previous close.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Barclays raised Brighthouse Financial from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and upped their price objective for the company from $52.00 to $85.00 in a research report on Wednesday. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on Brighthouse Financial from $55.00 to $52.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Brighthouse Financial from $42.00 to $41.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Brighthouse Financial from $59.00 to $56.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $57.63.

Brighthouse Financial Stock Down 1.2 %

Brighthouse Financial stock traded down $0.74 on Wednesday, hitting $61.26. 1,137,123 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 593,196. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $50.10 and its 200 day simple moving average is $47.63. The firm has a market cap of $3.64 billion, a P/E ratio of -3.01 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. Brighthouse Financial has a 1 year low of $40.00 and a 1 year high of $64.00.

Brighthouse Financial (NASDAQ:BHF - Get Free Report) 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). Brighthouse Financial had a negative net margin of 24.40% and a positive return on equity of 23.54%. The business had revenue of $2.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.21 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $4.18 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Brighthouse Financial will post 18.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Brighthouse Financial 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 33,407 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,727,141.90. The trade was a 20.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 1.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Brighthouse Financial

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of 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 last quarter. Range Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Brighthouse Financial in the 4th quarter worth $826,000. GSA Capital Partners LLP purchased a new stake in Brighthouse Financial in the third quarter worth about $1,311,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased 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 buying an additional 81,040 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Brighthouse Financial by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,091,462 shares of the company's stock worth $49,160,000 after acquiring an additional 8,004 shares in the last quarter. 81.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.