Brighthouse Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:BHF) Sees Large Decrease in Short Interest

Brighthouse Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:BHF) was the target of a large decline in short interest in February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 889,300 shares, a decline of 14.5% from the January 31st total of 1,040,000 shares. Currently, 1.5% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 567,400 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.6 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Brighthouse Financial from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $41.00 to $59.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Brighthouse Financial from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Barclays upgraded shares of Brighthouse Financial from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $52.00 to $85.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Brighthouse Financial from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $64.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of Brighthouse Financial from $60.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $63.14.

Brighthouse Financial Stock Performance

Shares of Brighthouse Financial stock opened at $54.91 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.26 billion, a PE ratio of 10.64 and a beta of 1.10. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $54.73 and its 200-day simple moving average is $49.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 0.93. Brighthouse Financial has a 1 year low of $40.00 and a 1 year high of $64.12.

Brighthouse Financial (NASDAQ:BHF) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The company reported $5.88 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.56 by $1.32. Brighthouse Financial had a net margin of 8.21% and a return on equity of 26.94%. Equities analysts forecast that Brighthouse Financial will post 20.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Brighthouse Financial

In other Brighthouse Financial news, EVP John Rosenthal sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.00, for a total value of $610,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 66,262 shares in the company, valued at $4,041,982. The trade was a 13.11 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Brighthouse Financial

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Brighthouse Financial by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,314,905 shares of the company’s stock valued at $104,240,000 after buying an additional 50,441 shares during the last quarter. Institute for Wealth Management LLC. bought a new stake in shares of Brighthouse Financial during the 4th quarter valued at about $287,000. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of Brighthouse Financial during the 4th quarter valued at about $312,000. Range Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Brighthouse Financial in the 4th quarter worth about $826,000. Finally, GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new position in Brighthouse Financial in the 3rd quarter worth about $1,311,000. Institutional investors 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.