B. Riley Financial Begins Coverage on Better Home & Finance (NASDAQ:BETR)

Key Points

• B. Riley Financial initiated coverage of Better Home & Finance with a “buy” rating and a $26 price target, implying approximately 91% upside from the reported $13.60 share price.
• Analyst sentiment is mixed but leans positive: seven analysts rate the stock Buy, two Hold, and one Sell, producing a “Moderate Buy” consensus and an average price target of $27.86.
• Better Home & Finance reported a larger-than-expected quarterly loss of $1.64 per share on $54.7 million in revenue, alongside a negative 94.52% net margin and 409.62% negative return on equity.

Research analysts at B. Riley Financial started coverage on shares of Better Home & Finance (NASDAQ:BETR - Get Free Report) in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday, Briefing.com reports. The firm set a "buy" rating and a $26.00 price target on the stock. B. Riley Financial's price target suggests a potential upside of 91.18% from the company's current price.

A number of other brokerages also recently commented on BETR. Weiss Ratings restated a "sell (e+)" rating on shares of Better Home & Finance in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Canaccord Genuity Group reissued a "buy" rating and set a $42.00 target price on shares of Better Home & Finance in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Better Home & Finance from a "strong sell" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 15th. Cantor Fitzgerald cut shares of Better Home & Finance from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $32.00 to $16.00 in a research report on Thursday, August 13th. Finally, BTIG Research decreased their price objective on Better Home & Finance from $36.00 to $23.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 10th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Better Home & Finance has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $27.86.

Better Home & Finance Stock Performance

Shares of BETR stock opened at $13.60 on Wednesday. Better Home & Finance has a one year low of $11.11 and a one year high of $94.06. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $19.15 and its 200-day simple moving average is $27.43. The stock has a market capitalization of $258.39 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.23 and a beta of 1.68.

Better Home & Finance (NASDAQ:BETR - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported ($1.64) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($1.41) by ($0.23). The firm had revenue of $54.70 million during the quarter. Better Home & Finance had a negative net margin of 94.52% and a negative return on equity of 409.62%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Better Home & Finance will post -6.56 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Better Home & Finance

In other news, Director Hugh R. Frater bought 5,150 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 11th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $24.34 per share, with a total value of $125,351.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 6,326 shares of the company's stock, valued at $153,974.84. This represents a 437.93% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Chad M. Smith sold 3,307 shares of Better Home & Finance stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $12.85, for a total transaction of $42,494.95. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 1,693 shares in the company, valued at $21,755.05. This represents a 66.14% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. 27.72% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Better Home & Finance

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of BETR. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Better Home & Finance by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 398,903 shares of the company's stock worth $22,394,000 after purchasing an additional 6,374 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Better Home & Finance by 3.1% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 293,858 shares of the company's stock worth $3,207,000 after acquiring an additional 8,924 shares during the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System raised its holdings in shares of Better Home & Finance by 4,324.3% during the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 243,513 shares of the company's stock worth $6,697,000 after acquiring an additional 238,009 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Better Home & Finance by 8.6% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 151,187 shares of the company's stock worth $4,927,000 after acquiring an additional 11,922 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp increased its position in Better Home & Finance by 14.2% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 116,597 shares of the company's stock worth $3,799,000 after purchasing an additional 14,540 shares during the last quarter. 20.94% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Better Home & Finance

Better Home & Finance Holding Co engages in the provision of comprehensive homeownership services. It offers mortgage loans, real estate agent services, and title and homeowner's insurance services. The company was founded in 2014 and is headquartered in New York, NY.

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