Brighthouse Financial (NASDAQ:BHF) Raised to “Equal Weight” 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 research report report published on Wednesday, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm currently has $59.00 target price on the stock, up from their previous target price of $41.00.

Several other analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Barclays raised Brighthouse Financial from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $52.00 to $85.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Brighthouse Financial from $59.00 to $56.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of Brighthouse Financial from $60.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Piper Sandler boosted their target price 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. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Brighthouse Financial from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $64.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Brighthouse Financial presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $61.75.

Brighthouse Financial Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ BHF opened at $59.45 on Wednesday. The company 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 52-week low of $40.00 and a 52-week high of $64.12. 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’s fifty day moving average is $53.13 and its two-hundred day moving average is $48.98.

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

Insider Activity at Brighthouse Financial

In other Brighthouse Financial news, EVP Myles Lambert sold 8,400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.70, for a total transaction of $434,280.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 33,407 shares in the company, valued at $1,727,141.90. The trade was a 20.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP John Rosenthal sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.00, for a total value of $610,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 66,262 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,041,982. The trade was 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

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Venturi Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Brighthouse Financial by 989.5% during the 3rd quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 621 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 564 shares during the period. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of 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 during the period. CWM LLC grew its position in shares of Brighthouse Financial by 29.4% during 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 increased its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 464 shares during the period. Finally, Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH bought a new stake in shares of Brighthouse Financial in the fourth quarter valued at about $94,000. 81.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.