Brighthouse Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:BHF) Receives Consensus Rating of “Hold” from Brokerages

Brighthouse Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:BHF) has earned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the ten ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have assigned a hold recommendation, one has assigned a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $59.30.

Several research firms recently weighed in on BHF. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on shares of Brighthouse Financial from $57.00 to $50.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Brighthouse Financial in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Brighthouse Financial from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Brighthouse Financial from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Brighthouse Financial from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 7th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Brighthouse Financial by 66.5% in the second quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 566 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 226 shares during the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc grew its holdings in shares of Brighthouse Financial by 1,900.0% in the second quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 740 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 703 shares during the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group grew its holdings in shares of Brighthouse Financial by 42.0% in the first quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 764 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 226 shares during the last quarter. Ameriflex Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Brighthouse Financial by 12,371.4% in the second quarter. Ameriflex Group Inc. now owns 873 shares of the company’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 866 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its holdings in shares of Brighthouse Financial by 835.2% in the first quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 823 shares of the company’s stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 735 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.24% of the company’s stock.

Brighthouse Financial Trading Down 1.3%

Shares of Brighthouse Financial stock opened at $46.21 on Friday. Brighthouse Financial has a 12-month low of $42.07 and a 12-month high of $64.12. The company has a market cap of $2.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.00 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $48.60 and its 200-day moving average price is $51.92.

Brighthouse Financial (NASDAQ:BHF) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $3.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.70 by ($1.27). Brighthouse Financial had a return on equity of 21.06% and a net margin of 10.24%.The firm had revenue of $2.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.21 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $5.57 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Brighthouse Financial will post 20.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.