Brighthouse Financial (NASDAQ:BHF) Upgraded at Wells Fargo & Company

Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Brighthouse Financial (NASDAQ:BHF) from an underweight rating to an equal weight rating in a report issued on Wednesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They currently have $59.00 target price on the stock, up from their previous target price of $41.00.

Several other research analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on Brighthouse Financial from $60.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on Brighthouse Financial from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Brighthouse Financial from $59.00 to $56.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Brighthouse Financial from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $64.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Barclays upgraded shares of Brighthouse Financial from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $52.00 to $85.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $61.75.

Brighthouse Financial Stock Down 3.9 %

NASDAQ:BHF opened at $59.45 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 0.93. The firm has a market cap of $3.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.52 and a beta of 1.10. Brighthouse Financial has a fifty-two week low of $40.00 and a fifty-two week high of $64.12. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $53.13 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $48.98.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Myles Lambert sold 8,400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.70, for a total value of $434,280.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP John Rosenthal sold 10,000 shares of Brighthouse Financial 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. This trade represents a 13.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Brighthouse Financial

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Venturi Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Brighthouse Financial by 989.5% in the third quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 621 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 564 shares in the last quarter. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd increased its stake in Brighthouse Financial by 327.0% in the 4th quarter. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd now owns 918 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,000 after buying an additional 703 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC increased its stake in Brighthouse Financial by 29.4% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,491 shares of the company’s stock worth $67,000 after buying an additional 339 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV raised its holdings in Brighthouse Financial by 30.2% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,001 shares of the company’s stock valued at $90,000 after acquiring an additional 464 shares during the period. Finally, Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH purchased a new position in shares of Brighthouse Financial in the fourth quarter valued at about $94,000. Hedge funds and other 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.