Morgan Stanley Cuts Brighthouse Financial (NASDAQ:BHF) Price Target to $41.00

Brighthouse Financial (NASDAQ:BHF) had its price objective lowered by Morgan Stanley from $52.00 to $41.00 in a research report released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. Morgan Stanley currently has an underweight rating on the stock.

Other analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded 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. Raymond James raised Brighthouse Financial from a “market perform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $72.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Brighthouse Financial from $59.00 to $56.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Barclays raised shares of Brighthouse Financial from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $52.00 to $85.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Brighthouse Financial from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Brighthouse Financial currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $62.00.

Brighthouse Financial Trading Down 12.2 %

NASDAQ:BHF opened at $47.29 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $2.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.16 and a beta of 0.91. Brighthouse Financial has a twelve month low of $40.00 and a twelve month high of $64.12. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $56.90 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $51.98. 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 (NASDAQ:BHF) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The company reported $5.88 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.56 by $1.32. Brighthouse Financial had a net margin of 8.21% and a return on equity of 26.94%. As a group, analysts expect that Brighthouse Financial will post 20.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Brighthouse Financial

In other Brighthouse Financial news, EVP John Rosenthal sold 10,000 shares of Brighthouse Financial stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 31st. The shares were 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 $4,041,982. The trade was a 13.11 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in BHF. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its position in Brighthouse Financial by 188.0% during the first quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 622 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 406 shares in the last quarter. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd lifted 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 valued at $44,000 after acquiring an additional 703 shares during the period. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH acquired a new stake in shares of Brighthouse Financial during the 4th quarter worth $94,000. KBC Group NV increased its position in shares of Brighthouse Financial by 33.1% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,664 shares of the company’s stock worth $128,000 after purchasing an additional 663 shares during the period. Finally, Dark Forest Capital Management LP bought a new stake in Brighthouse Financial during the fourth quarter worth about $217,000. 81.24% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.