American Century Companies Inc. Buys 181,980 Shares of Brighthouse Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:BHF)

American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Brighthouse Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:BHF) by 12.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,682,076 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 181,980 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc. owned about 2.83% of Brighthouse Financial worth $80,807,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in BHF. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Brighthouse Financial by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,314,905 shares of the company’s stock worth $104,240,000 after acquiring an additional 50,441 shares during the period. Institute for Wealth Management LLC. bought a new position in shares of Brighthouse Financial in the fourth quarter worth about $287,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in shares of Brighthouse Financial by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 525,388 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,240,000 after purchasing an additional 9,500 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new stake in Brighthouse Financial during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $312,000. Finally, Range Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in Brighthouse Financial in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $826,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.24% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on BHF shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of Brighthouse Financial from $60.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. UBS Group set a $72.00 target price on shares of Brighthouse Financial in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Morgan Stanley set a $52.00 target price on Brighthouse Financial in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Brighthouse Financial from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $41.00 to $59.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Brighthouse Financial from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Brighthouse Financial currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $63.80.

Brighthouse Financial Stock Performance

NASDAQ BHF opened at $59.34 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $56.77 and a 200-day moving average of $50.91. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. Brighthouse Financial, Inc. has a 1-year low of $40.00 and a 1-year high of $64.12. The firm has a market cap of $3.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.50 and a beta of 1.11.

Brighthouse Financial (NASDAQ:BHF) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The company reported $5.88 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.56 by $1.32. Brighthouse Financial had a net margin of 8.21% and a return on equity of 26.94%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Brighthouse Financial, Inc. will post 20.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Brighthouse Financial

In other Brighthouse Financial news, EVP John Rosenthal sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.00, for a total value of $610,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 66,262 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,041,982. This trade represents a 13.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 1.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.