Brighthouse Financial (NASDAQ:BHF) Stock Rating Upgraded by Raymond James

Brighthouse Financial (NASDAQ:BHF) was upgraded by stock analysts at Raymond James from a “market perform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report issued on Tuesday, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has a $72.00 price target on the stock. Raymond James’ target price points to a potential upside of 23.97% from the company’s current price.

BHF has been the topic of several other research reports. Piper Sandler increased their target price on Brighthouse Financial from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Morgan Stanley set a $52.00 price objective on shares of Brighthouse Financial in a report on Friday, February 28th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Brighthouse Financial from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $64.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Barclays upgraded shares of Brighthouse Financial from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $52.00 to $85.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Brighthouse Financial from $59.00 to $56.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $63.80.

Brighthouse Financial Price Performance

NASDAQ:BHF opened at $58.08 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $3.37 billion, a PE ratio of 11.26 and a beta of 1.11. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $56.07 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $50.59. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. Brighthouse Financial has a 12 month low of $40.00 and a 12 month high of $64.12.

Brighthouse Financial (NASDAQ:BHF) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The company reported $5.88 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%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Brighthouse Financial will post 20.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP John Rosenthal sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 66,262 shares in the company, valued at $4,041,982. This trade represents a 13.11 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Brighthouse Financial

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd grew its position in shares of Brighthouse Financial by 327.0% during 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. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH bought a new position in Brighthouse Financial during the 4th quarter worth approximately $94,000. KBC Group NV boosted its stake in Brighthouse Financial by 30.2% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,001 shares of the company’s stock worth $90,000 after acquiring an additional 464 shares during the last quarter. Dark Forest Capital Management LP acquired a new position in Brighthouse Financial during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $217,000. Finally, Guggenheim Capital LLC bought a new stake in Brighthouse Financial in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $227,000. 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.