Brighthouse Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:BHF) Short Interest Update

Brighthouse Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:BHF) saw a large decrease in short interest during the month of February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 889,300 shares, a decrease of 14.5% from the January 31st total of 1,040,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 567,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.6 days. Currently, 1.5% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP John Rosenthal sold 10,000 shares of the company’s 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 66,262 shares in the company, valued at $4,041,982. This represents a 13.11 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Brighthouse Financial

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Xponance Inc. grew its position in shares of Brighthouse Financial by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 6,860 shares of the company’s stock valued at $330,000 after purchasing an additional 181 shares in the last quarter. Pinnacle Holdings LLC grew its position in Brighthouse Financial by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Pinnacle Holdings LLC now owns 46,297 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,224,000 after acquiring an additional 191 shares in the last quarter. Amalgamated Bank grew its position in Brighthouse Financial by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 28,345 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,362,000 after acquiring an additional 227 shares in the last quarter. Mariner LLC grew its position in Brighthouse Financial by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 6,055 shares of the company’s stock worth $291,000 after acquiring an additional 242 shares in the last quarter. Finally, US Bancorp DE grew its position in Brighthouse Financial by 0.9% in the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 35,755 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,610,000 after acquiring an additional 319 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.24% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on BHF. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Brighthouse Financial from $59.00 to $56.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Piper Sandler increased their target price on Brighthouse Financial from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. 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 note on Monday, February 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Brighthouse Financial from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their target price for the company from $41.00 to $59.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Barclays upgraded Brighthouse Financial from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the company from $52.00 to $85.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $63.14.

Brighthouse Financial Price Performance

NASDAQ BHF opened at $54.96 on Wednesday. Brighthouse Financial has a 1-year low of $40.00 and a 1-year high of $64.12. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $54.45 and its 200-day moving average price is $49.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.65 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.92.

Brighthouse Financial (NASDAQ:BHF) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The company reported $5.88 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 predict that Brighthouse Financial will post 20.32 earnings per share for the current year.

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.