Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Increases Position in Brighthouse Financial, Inc. $BHF

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Brighthouse Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:BHF) by 12.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 314,621 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 35,000 shares during the quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. owned 0.55% of Brighthouse Financial worth $20,384,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Brighthouse Financial by 1.3% in the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,449,923 shares of the company’s stock valued at $183,131,000 after purchasing an additional 42,652 shares during the period. UBS Group AG raised its stake in shares of Brighthouse Financial by 98.1% in the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 3,413,278 shares of the company’s stock valued at $181,177,000 after acquiring an additional 1,690,064 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in shares of Brighthouse Financial by 10.4% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,210,276 shares of the company’s stock valued at $117,321,000 after acquiring an additional 208,630 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Brighthouse Financial by 190.7% in the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,396,245 shares of the company’s stock valued at $74,113,000 after acquiring an additional 915,902 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Brighthouse Financial by 33.6% in the third quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 686,721 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,451,000 after acquiring an additional 172,641 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.24% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $67.00 price objective on shares of Brighthouse Financial in a research note on Thursday, March 26th. Argus upgraded Brighthouse Financial to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 26th. Weiss Ratings cut Brighthouse Financial from a “hold (c)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Brighthouse Financial from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, May 18th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $60.86.

Brighthouse Financial Stock Performance

NASDAQ:BHF opened at $62.47 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.59 billion, a PE ratio of -20.96 and a beta of 0.87. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $61.15 and its 200 day moving average price is $62.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.91. Brighthouse Financial, Inc. has a 12 month low of $42.07 and a 12 month high of $66.33.

Brighthouse Financial (NASDAQ:BHF) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $4.35 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.57 by ($0.22). The business had revenue of $2.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.20 billion. Brighthouse Financial had a negative net margin of 1.10% and a positive return on equity of 16.88%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 29.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $4.17 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Brighthouse Financial, Inc. will post 19.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Brighthouse Financial

Brighthouse Financial, Inc is a U.S.-based life insurance company that specializes in retirement income solutions and annuity products. The firm was established in August 2017 as a spin-off from MetLife, Inc, and is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. Since its separation, Brighthouse Financial has focused on providing products designed to help individuals and families manage retirement income needs, drawing on decades of experience in life insurance and annuity administration inherited from its parent company.

The company’s core product offerings include fixed indexed annuities, which allow policyholders to participate in market-linked gains while protecting against downside market risk, and single premium immediate annuities, which provide guaranteed lifetime income.