Brighthouse Financial (NASDAQ:BHF) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Misses Expectations By $0.22 EPS

Brighthouse Financial (NASDAQ:BHF) issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday. The company reported $4.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.57 by ($0.22), Briefing.com reports. Brighthouse Financial had a positive return on equity of 16.88% and a negative net margin of 1.10%.During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $4.17 EPS. Brighthouse Financial’s quarterly revenue was down 29.4% compared to the same quarter last year.

Brighthouse Financial Stock Performance

BHF stock traded up $1.12 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $62.54. The stock had a trading volume of 823,970 shares, compared to its average volume of 451,916. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.59 billion, a PE ratio of -20.99 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $60.91 and a 200 day simple moving average of $62.39. Brighthouse Financial has a fifty-two week low of $42.07 and a fifty-two week high of $66.33.

Institutional Trading of Brighthouse Financial

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV lifted its stake in Brighthouse Financial by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 27,346 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,772,000 after acquiring an additional 183 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Brighthouse Financial by 66.5% in the second quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 566 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 226 shares during the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio lifted its stake in Brighthouse Financial by 1.8% in the third quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 18,394 shares of the company’s stock valued at $976,000 after acquiring an additional 323 shares during the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Brighthouse Financial by 442.5% in the fourth quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 434 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 354 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. lifted its stake in Brighthouse Financial by 81.6% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,155 shares of the company’s stock valued at $75,000 after acquiring an additional 519 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.24% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on BHF. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued a “hold” rating and set a $67.00 price objective on shares of Brighthouse Financial in a research report on Thursday, March 26th. Zacks Research cut shares of Brighthouse Financial from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Monday, March 30th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Brighthouse Financial from a “hold (c)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of Brighthouse Financial to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 26th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Brighthouse Financial has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $60.86.

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.