Highbridge Capital Management LLC Takes $17.84 Million Position in Brighthouse Financial, Inc. $BHF

Highbridge Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Brighthouse Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:BHF) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 275,390 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,843,000. Highbridge Capital Management LLC owned about 0.48% of Brighthouse Financial at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Brighthouse Financial by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,449,923 shares of the company’s stock valued at $183,131,000 after buying an additional 42,652 shares during the last quarter. UBS Group AG lifted its position in shares of Brighthouse Financial by 98.1% during the 3rd quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 3,413,278 shares of the company’s stock valued at $181,177,000 after buying an additional 1,690,064 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in shares of Brighthouse Financial by 10.4% during the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,210,276 shares of the company’s stock valued at $117,321,000 after buying an additional 208,630 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Brighthouse Financial by 190.7% during the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,396,245 shares of the company’s stock valued at $74,113,000 after buying an additional 915,902 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Brighthouse Financial by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,070,547 shares of the company’s stock valued at $69,375,000 after buying an additional 4,537 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.24% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated a “hold” rating and set 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 lowered 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 investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Brighthouse Financial currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $60.86.

Brighthouse Financial Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ BHF opened at $62.65 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.60 billion, a P/E ratio of -21.02 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $61.67 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $62.92. Brighthouse Financial, Inc. has a twelve month low of $42.07 and a twelve month high of $66.33.

Brighthouse Financial (NASDAQ:BHF) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported $4.35 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.57 by ($0.22). The business had revenue of $2.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.20 billion. Brighthouse Financial had a positive return on equity of 16.88% and a negative net margin of 1.10%.Brighthouse Financial’s revenue was down 29.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $4.17 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Brighthouse Financial, Inc. will post 19.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Brighthouse Financial Company Profile

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.