Brighthouse Financial (NASDAQ:BHF) Shares Gap Up - Time to Buy?

Key Points

• Brighthouse Financial's stock price experienced a significant increase, opening at $48.58 after closing at $43.38, with the last trade at $47.62.
• Multiple analysts have adjusted their price targets for Brighthouse Financial, with Morgan Stanley lowering it from $45.00 to $42.00, while JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised it from $56.00 to $63.00.
• The company reported disappointing quarterly earnings of $3.43 per share, missing analysts' estimates of $4.70, along with a 2.8% year-over-year revenue decline.

Brighthouse Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:BHF - Get Free Report)'s stock price gapped up before the market opened on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $43.38, but opened at $48.58. Brighthouse Financial shares last traded at $47.62, with a volume of 562,031 shares trading hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on BHF shares. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Brighthouse Financial from $45.00 to $42.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Brighthouse Financial from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, June 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Brighthouse Financial from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Brighthouse Financial from $53.00 to $54.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on shares of Brighthouse Financial from $57.00 to $50.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Brighthouse Financial has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $59.67.

Brighthouse Financial Trading Up 10.1%

The firm has a market capitalization of $2.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.16 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 0.93. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $48.07 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $53.41.

Brighthouse Financial (NASDAQ:BHF - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $3.43 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $4.70 by ($1.27). The company had revenue of $2.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.21 billion. Brighthouse Financial had a return on equity of 21.06% and a net margin of 10.24%.The business's revenue was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $5.57 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Brighthouse Financial, Inc. will post 20.32 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Brighthouse Financial

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of BHF. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its holdings in Brighthouse Financial by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 74,877 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,597,000 after acquiring an additional 491 shares during the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. acquired a new stake in Brighthouse Financial in the 4th quarter valued at about $3,478,000. Deutsche Bank AG raised its holdings in Brighthouse Financial by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 67,990 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,266,000 after acquiring an additional 941 shares during the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Brighthouse Financial by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 732,689 shares of the company's stock valued at $35,198,000 after buying an additional 24,662 shares during the period. Finally, Nuveen Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Brighthouse Financial by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 89,097 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,280,000 after buying an additional 1,832 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.24% of the company's stock.

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.

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