Barclays Upgrades Brighthouse Financial (NASDAQ:BHF) to “Overweight”

Brighthouse Financial (NASDAQ:BHF) was upgraded by investment analysts at Barclays from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note issued on Wednesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm presently has a $85.00 price target on the stock, up from their previous price target of $52.00. Barclays‘s price objective indicates a potential upside of 38.75% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other equities analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Piper Sandler dropped 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. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Brighthouse Financial from $42.00 to $41.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Brighthouse Financial from $59.00 to $56.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a 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 assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $57.63.

Brighthouse Financial Stock Down 1.2 %

Shares of BHF stock opened at $61.26 on Wednesday. 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 12 month low of $40.00 and a 12 month high of $64.00. The stock 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 50 day simple moving average of $50.10 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $47.63.

Brighthouse Financial (NASDAQ:BHF) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $3.99 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 firm had revenue of $2.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.21 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $4.18 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Brighthouse Financial will post 18.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Brighthouse Financial news, EVP Myles Lambert sold 8,400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.70, for a total value of $434,280.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 33,407 shares in the company, valued at $1,727,141.90. This represents a 20.09 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. US Bancorp DE boosted its stake in shares of Brighthouse Financial by 0.9% during the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 35,755 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,610,000 after purchasing an additional 319 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC raised its holdings in Brighthouse Financial by 29.4% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,491 shares of the company’s stock worth $67,000 after purchasing an additional 339 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning lifted its position in shares of Brighthouse Financial by 5.7% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 7,843 shares of the company’s stock valued at $353,000 after buying an additional 420 shares during the last quarter. Lecap Asset Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Brighthouse Financial by 9.1% in the 4th quarter. Lecap Asset Management Ltd. now owns 5,234 shares of the company’s stock valued at $251,000 after buying an additional 436 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV boosted its holdings in shares of Brighthouse Financial by 30.2% in the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,001 shares of the company’s stock valued at $90,000 after buying an additional 464 shares in the last quarter. 81.24% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.