Brighthouse Financial (NASDAQ:BHF) Stock Rating Lowered by Zacks Research

Brighthouse Financial (NASDAQ:BHF) was downgraded by Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the company. Raymond James Financial reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Brighthouse Financial in a report on Wednesday, November 12th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on Brighthouse Financial from $50.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, November 7th. Morgan Stanley set a $70.00 target price on Brighthouse Financial in a research note on Thursday, November 6th. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on shares of Brighthouse Financial from $65.00 to $55.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted 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 note on Wednesday, October 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $63.70.

Brighthouse Financial Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of NASDAQ BHF traded down $0.07 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $65.61. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 211,643 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,067,483. Brighthouse Financial has a one year low of $42.07 and a one year high of $66.33. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $53.11 and its 200-day simple moving average is $52.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The stock has a market cap of $3.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.48 and a beta of 0.94.

Brighthouse Financial (NASDAQ:BHF) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 7th. The company reported $4.54 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.09 by ($0.55). The company had revenue of $2.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.26 billion. Brighthouse Financial had a return on equity of 20.59% and a net margin of 15.39%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.99 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Brighthouse Financial will post 20.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Brighthouse Financial

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Counterpoint Mutual Funds LLC bought a new stake in Brighthouse Financial in the second quarter valued at approximately $406,000. Kawa Capital Management Inc acquired a new position in shares of Brighthouse Financial during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $8,066,000. Royal Bank of Canada raised its stake in Brighthouse Financial by 41.0% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 985,215 shares of the company’s stock valued at $57,134,000 after acquiring an additional 286,607 shares during the period. Strs Ohio raised its stake in Brighthouse Financial by 23.6% in the 2nd quarter. Strs Ohio now owns 38,067 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,047,000 after acquiring an additional 7,268 shares during the period. Finally, Alpine Associates Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Brighthouse Financial during the 2nd quarter valued at $5,225,000. 81.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Brighthouse Financial Company Profile

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.