Short Interest in Brighthouse Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:BHF) Increases By 7.2%

Brighthouse Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:BHF) was the target of a large growth in short interest in September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,190,000 shares, a growth of 7.2% from the August 31st total of 1,110,000 shares. Currently, 2.0% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 412,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.9 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on BHF shares. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on shares of Brighthouse Financial from $56.00 to $52.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on shares of Brighthouse Financial from $50.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Barclays assumed coverage on shares of Brighthouse Financial in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $48.00 price target for the company. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of Brighthouse Financial from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $51.00 to $40.00 in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Brighthouse Financial from $58.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $50.25.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP John Rosenthal sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.00, for a total transaction of $230,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 96,262 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,428,052. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, CFO Edward A. Spehar sold 7,125 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.74, for a total value of $297,397.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 37,640 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,571,093.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP John Rosenthal sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.00, for a total transaction of $230,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 96,262 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,428,052. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 42,125 shares of company stock worth $1,895,248. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Brighthouse Financial

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Retirement Systems of Alabama boosted its stake in Brighthouse Financial by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 80,625 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,155,000 after purchasing an additional 211 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE boosted its stake in shares of Brighthouse Financial by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 35,695 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,840,000 after buying an additional 211 shares during the last quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System boosted its stake in shares of Brighthouse Financial by 2.6% in the 1st quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 15,768 shares of the company’s stock worth $813,000 after buying an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC boosted its stake in shares of Brighthouse Financial by 4.5% in the 2nd quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 15,686 shares of the company’s stock worth $680,000 after buying an additional 669 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Texas Permanent School Fund Corp boosted its stake in shares of Brighthouse Financial by 1.3% in the 1st quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 56,192 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,896,000 after buying an additional 727 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.24% of the company’s stock.

Brighthouse Financial Stock Performance

Shares of Brighthouse Financial stock opened at $43.95 on Wednesday. Brighthouse Financial has a one year low of $40.00 and a one year high of $56.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.31 and a beta of 1.06. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $44.45 and a 200 day simple moving average of $45.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.85.

Brighthouse Financial (NASDAQ:BHF) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported $5.57 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.36 by $1.21. Brighthouse Financial had a positive return on equity of 26.22% and a negative net margin of 22.03%. The business had revenue of $2.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.21 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $4.13 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Brighthouse Financial will post 18.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.