logo
Why Brighthouse Financial (BHF) Stock Is Up Today

Why Brighthouse Financial (BHF) Stock Is Up Today

Yahoo16-07-2025
What Happened?
Shares of insurance and annuity provider Brighthouse Financial (NASDAQ:BHF) jumped 9.5% in the morning session after reports surfaced that the company is in exclusive talks to be acquired by investment firm Aquarian Holdings.
The news, first reported by The Wall Street Journal, indicated that a deal could be finalized within a few weeks. This development follows a period of exploration by Brighthouse, which had reportedly been working with bankers on a potential sale for much of the year. Life insurance and annuity companies like Brighthouse have increasingly become attractive targets for private equity firms and asset managers. These buyers are often drawn to the large asset bases of insurers, which they can manage and deploy into their own investment strategies. The potential acquisition by Aquarian highlights a strategic interest in Brighthouse's substantial financial operations and its undervalued assets.
Is now the time to buy Brighthouse Financial? Access our full analysis report here, it's free.
What Is The Market Telling Us
Brighthouse Financial's shares are quite volatile and have had 18 moves greater than 5% over the last year. In that context, today's move indicates the market considers this news meaningful but not something that would fundamentally change its perception of the business.
The previous big move we wrote about was 8 days ago when the stock gained 3.8% as investors reacted to an analyst rating from Barclays, which reiterated its "overweight" rating on the stock. While Barclays lowered its price target on the life insurance and annuity provider to $70 from $76, the firm maintained its positive "overweight" rating.
An overweight rating suggests that the analyst believes the stock is likely to outperform the broader market or its sector in the near future.
Investors appeared to be focusing on the maintained positive outlook and the fact that the new $70 price target still implies a significant potential upside from the stock's current price.
Brighthouse Financial is up 6.6% since the beginning of the year, but at $51.16 per share, it is still trading 18.8% below its 52-week high of $62.97 from February 2025. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Brighthouse Financial's shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $1,742.
Today's young investors likely haven't read the timeless lessons in Gorilla Game: Picking Winners In High Technology because it was written more than 20 years ago when Microsoft and Apple were first establishing their supremacy. But if we apply the same principles, then enterprise software stocks leveraging their own generative AI capabilities may well be the Gorillas of the future. So, in that spirit, we are excited to present our Special Free Report on a profitable, fast-growing enterprise software stock that is already riding the automation wave and looking to catch the generative AI next.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

More stock market records, more trade deals, more trade talks — plus, lots of earnings
More stock market records, more trade deals, more trade talks — plus, lots of earnings

CNBC

time16 minutes ago

  • CNBC

More stock market records, more trade deals, more trade talks — plus, lots of earnings

The S & P 500 rose every day this past week as trade deals, both in the works and announced, lent support to the market. The index heads into the final stretch of a strong July at record highs. For the week, the S & P 500 gained nearly 1.5%. The Nasdaq did not go wire to wire in the green this week, but it did rise 1%, closing at another record high. Ahead of the last trading day of the month on Thursday, the S & P 500 was up almost 3% for July, while the Nasdaq jumped 3.6%. The best session of the week came on Wednesday after President Donald Trump announced the night before what he called a "massive" trade agreement with Japan ahead of the Aug. 1 deadline. The deal settled on a 15% tariff on goods entering the United States from Japan, including automobiles. In exchange, Japan will invest $550 billion in America and open its market to more imports from the U.S. The trade focus now shifts to China and the European Union. Next week, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent travels to Stockholm for talks with Chinese officials about extending the negotiating window for a trade deal. Regarding the EU, Trump said Friday he sees only a "50-50 chance" of a deal with the trading bloc. The president plans to meet with EU officials in Scotland on Sunday. .SPX .IXIC 5D mountain S & P 500 and Nasdaq 5-day performance The other big news of this past week was Trump's trip to the Federal Reserve on Thursday. He toured the central bank renovation site with Fed Chairman Jerome Powell. They spoke with reporters and had an uncomfortable moment over renovation costs. Trump signaled that he's no longer considering firing Powell. The president told reporters Friday that Powell and he had a "good meeting" about interest rates, and he believes the Fed will start cutting them. Powell has kept rates steady since December 2024, saying central bankers need more time to see how finalized tariffs will impact inflation. On the economy, the June existing home sales report was released on Wednesday, followed by June new home sales on Thursday. While sales of both were slower than expected, the reports diverged when it came to prices. The median price of a previously owned home sold in June was $435,300, up year over year and the 24th consecutive month of annual increases, according to the National Association of Realtors. However, government data showed the median sales price of new homes sold last month was $401,800 — below May and below year-ago levels. Watching housing price trends is important because it can give us signals on where shelter costs might be headed, which have been a key factor keeping overall inflation elevated. Second quarter earnings season has kicked into full gear, with results thus far coming in better than expected. According to FactSet, a third of the S & P 500 companies have already reported, with 80% of those delivering upside surprises to both sales and earnings expectations. Within the Club portfolio, we heard from Danaher, GE Vernova, Capital One, Honeywell, and Dover. Talk about a blowout. GE Vernova came into the quarterly print near all-time highs, setting a high bar of expectations, which it easily hopped over. The stock was rewarded with record highs and was our top performer of the week, with 12% gains. Shares have nearly doubled in 2025 versus the S & P 500's 8.6% advance this year. GE Vernova on Wednesday reported strong order growth and robust EBITDA margin expansion. EBITDA stands for earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization. Strong backlog growth also gives us confidence that end market demand remains healthy. "This era of accelerated electrification is driving unprecedented investments in reliable power, grid infrastructure, and decarbonization solutions," CEO Scott Strazik said on the post-earnings call. Danaher on Tuesday delivered a strong set of results, albeit against relatively low expectations. The company did outpace expectations on the top and bottom lines, thanks to strength in all key operating segments. While Chinese sales in biotechnology and life sciences grew, the positive numbers were overshadowed by sustained weakness in diagnostics due to the countries volume-based procurement program. The quarter was enough to spark a relief rally and keep us in the name. Danaher was our second-best performer this week, rising 8%. Despite a good week, the stock was still down 10.5% year to date. Capital One delivered a noisy quarter on Tuesday due to the Discover integration. While shares were among our losers this week, down 2.5%, they have been on a roll, up more than 19% year to date. We saw enough the quarter to reaffirm our view that there will be some serious long-term benefits resulting from the acquisition and its payment network. Capital One is one of only two banks in the world with their own credit card network, the other being American Express. We will look for the company to leverage that edge into earnings growth and for the stock to be rewarded for it with a higher multiple as the integration progresses and management executes on their game plan. We were surprised by Thursday's more than 4% stock drop on Dover 's earnings. In addition to a top and bottom-line beat, the company reported a record adjusted segment EBITDA margin, an acceleration in bookings that provides visibility into the future. It also outlined several growth and productivity investments to support long-term growth. Compounding the strong results, management raised its full-year outlook on both revenue growth and adjusted earnings per share. For the week, Dover lost about 1%. Like Dover, Honeywell stock was also dinged after it reported Thursday morning, despite the results coming in largely better than expected. Shares were our worst performer of the week, down 5.2%. While there was some weakness in aerospace and in segment margin performance, we were satisfied with the explanation provided by management on the call and believe the weakness provides a buying opportunity ahead of what we think will be a value-creating breakup into three separate operating companies. The split will start in the fourth quarter of this year, when management spins off the advanced materials business, and continue in 2026 with the separation of aerospace, which will leave the automation business as the third public company. In the week ahead, we will get seven more Club name earnings, including Amazon , Apple , Meta Platforms , and Microsoft . (See here for a full list of the stocks in Jim Cramer's Charitable Trust.) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust's portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER . NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTING CLUB. NO SPECIFIC OUTCOME OR PROFIT IS GUARANTEED.

Allied Gaming & Entertainment Urges Stockholders to Take Caution Against Misleading and Factually Incorrect Statements Issued by Knighted Pastures Regarding ISS Report
Allied Gaming & Entertainment Urges Stockholders to Take Caution Against Misleading and Factually Incorrect Statements Issued by Knighted Pastures Regarding ISS Report

Business Wire

timean hour ago

  • Business Wire

Allied Gaming & Entertainment Urges Stockholders to Take Caution Against Misleading and Factually Incorrect Statements Issued by Knighted Pastures Regarding ISS Report

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Allied Gaming & Entertainment, Inc. (NASDAQ: AGAE) (the 'Company', 'AGAE' or 'Allied'), a global experiential entertainment company, announced today that a leading independent proxy advisory firm, Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. ('ISS'), has recommended withhold votes on five of the six director candidates that Knighted Pastures, LLC ('Knighted' or the 'dissident') has proposed at AGAE's upcoming combined 2024/2025 Annual Meeting on August 4, 2025. The Company also urges stockholders to take caution against relying on statements made by Knighted in its press release on the ISS recommendation. Of particular note, Knighted's claim that ISS recommended stockholders to vote for the election of Knighted's Class B director candidates to the Company's Board of Directors is factually incorrect. In fact, ISS recommended that stockholders vote for just one of Knighted's candidates, Roy Choi. Allied has previously offered Roy Choi a Board seat in an attempt to settle the proxy contest and related litigation but Mr. Choi has refused this offer. In addition, ISS recommended stockholders vote against Knighted's proposal to remove Mr. Yangyang Li, AGAE's Chairman of the Board, CEO and President, from the Company's Board of Directors. ISS also recommended stockholders support AGAE's candidate Roy Anderson. Additional findings from the ISS report that AGAE stockholders should consider include: (1) 'The dissident has presented a case for only limited change. ' '[S]upport for class B dissident nominee Choi is warranted. Shareholders should withhold votes from all other dissident nominees...' 'Over all periods of measurement through the unaffected date, AGAE's TSR outperformed the median of its peers …' 'TSR over the one-year period is positive …' '[T]he company's cash balances remain healthy …' The Allied Gaming Board of Directors has been and remains committed to acting in the best interests of all stockholders and unanimously recommends that stockholders vote "FOR" all six of AGAE's director nominees standing for election – Jingsheng (Jason) Lu, Guanzhou (Jerry) Qin, Mao Sun, Roy Anderson, Yushi Guo and Chi Zhao – on the WHITE proxy card today. PROTECT YOUR INVESTMENT IN ALLIED GAMING. REJECT ROY CHOI AND HIS NOMINEES BY VOTING THE WHITE PROXY CARD TODAY 'FOR' ALL SIX OF ALLIED GAMING'S NOMINEES, AND 'WITHHOLD' ON THE THREE KNIGHTED NOMINEES WE URGE YOU NOT TO SIGN OR RETURN ANY PROXY CARD OR VOTING INSTRUCTION FORM THAT MAY BE SENT TO YOU BY KNIGHTED. If you have any questions or need assistance in voting your WHITE proxy card, we encourage you to call our proxy advisers, MacKenzie Partners, Inc., Toll-Free at (800) 322-2885 or (212) 929-5500 or by email at AGAE@ Remember, you may be able to vote your shares by telephone, internet, and QR code voting may be available. Please refer to your proxy card/voting instruction form for details. If you have any questions or need assistance in voting your shares, please contact our proxy solicitor: MacKenzie Partners, Inc. 7 Penn Plaza, #503 New York, New York 10001 (212) 929-5500 (Call Collect) or Call Toll-Free (800) 322-2885 Email: AGAE@ Expand Advisors Paul Hastings LLP is serving as legal counsel, MacKenzie Partners, Inc. is serving as proxy solicitor and ADDO IR is serving as strategic communications advisor to AGAE. About Allied Gaming & Entertainment Allied Gaming & Entertainment Inc. (Nasdaq: AGAE) is a global experiential entertainment company focused on providing a growing world of gamers and concertgoers with unique experiences through renowned assets, products and services. For more information, visit Forward Looking Statements This press release contains certain forward-looking statements under federal securities laws. Forward-looking statements may include our statements regarding our goals, beliefs, strategies, objectives, plans, including product and service developments, future financial conditions, results or projections or current expectations. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as 'may,' 'will,' 'should,' 'expect,' 'plan,' 'anticipate,' 'believe,' 'estimate,' 'predict,' 'potential,' 'intend' or 'continue,' the negative of such terms, or other comparable terminology. Specific forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding our ability to execute on strategic and business plans and drive stockholder value, our projections on Allied Gaming's future financial performance and expense structure and our beliefs on the impact of Knighted director nominations and other actions of Knighted on the performance of the Company. These statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors, many of which are outside our control, that may cause actual results to be materially different from those contemplated by the forward-looking statements. The inclusion of such information should not be regarded as a representation by us, or any person, that the objectives of Allied Gaming will be achieved. Important factors, among others, that may affect actual results or outcomes include: risks associated with our strategy, future direction or governance; the substantial uncertainties inherent in the acceptance of existing and future products and services; risks associated with our ability to retain key personnel; risks related to our common stock and the listing of our common stock on the Nasdaq Capital Market; risks associated with intellectual property; uncertainty around current and potential litigation and related legal expenses; and general economic, political and market conditions and events. You should consider the areas of risk described in connection with any forward-looking statements that may be made herein and other risk factors discussed from time to time in our filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the 'SEC'), including those factors discussed under the caption 'Risk Factors' in our most recent annual report on Form 10-K, filed with the SEC on June 9, 2025, as well as subsequent reports filed with the SEC. Readers are also urged to carefully review and consider the various disclosures we made in such Annual Report on Form 10-K and in subsequent reports with the SEC. We assume no obligation and do not intend to update these forward-looking statements, except as required by law, to reflect events or circumstances occurring after today's date.

Institutions own 43% of NewtekOne, Inc. (NASDAQ:NEWT) shares but individual investors control 51% of the company
Institutions own 43% of NewtekOne, Inc. (NASDAQ:NEWT) shares but individual investors control 51% of the company

Yahoo

timean hour ago

  • Yahoo

Institutions own 43% of NewtekOne, Inc. (NASDAQ:NEWT) shares but individual investors control 51% of the company

Key Insights The considerable ownership by individual investors in NewtekOne indicates that they collectively have a greater say in management and business strategy 37% of the business is held by the top 25 shareholders Recent purchases by insiders We've found 21 US stocks that are forecast to pay a dividend yield of over 6% next year. See the full list for free. Every investor in NewtekOne, Inc. (NASDAQ:NEWT) should be aware of the most powerful shareholder groups. The group holding the most number of shares in the company, around 51% to be precise, is individual investors. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk). And institutions on the other hand have a 43% ownership in the company. Institutions often own shares in more established companies, while it's not unusual to see insiders own a fair bit of smaller companies. Let's delve deeper into each type of owner of NewtekOne, beginning with the chart below. See our latest analysis for NewtekOne What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About NewtekOne? Institutional investors commonly compare their own returns to the returns of a commonly followed index. So they generally do consider buying larger companies that are included in the relevant benchmark index. We can see that NewtekOne does have institutional investors; and they hold a good portion of the company's stock. This can indicate that the company has a certain degree of credibility in the investment community. However, it is best to be wary of relying on the supposed validation that comes with institutional investors. They too, get it wrong sometimes. It is not uncommon to see a big share price drop if two large institutional investors try to sell out of a stock at the same time. So it is worth checking the past earnings trajectory of NewtekOne, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too. We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in NewtekOne. The company's largest shareholder is BlackRock, Inc., with ownership of 8.1%. Meanwhile, the second and third largest shareholders, hold 5.4% and 4.6%, of the shares outstanding, respectively. Barry Sloane, who is the third-largest shareholder, also happens to hold the title of Chairman of the Board. Our studies suggest that the top 25 shareholders collectively control less than half of the company's shares, meaning that the company's shares are widely disseminated and there is no dominant shareholder. While it makes sense to study institutional ownership data for a company, it also makes sense to study analyst sentiments to know which way the wind is blowing. There are plenty of analysts covering the stock, so it might be worth seeing what they are forecasting, too. Insider Ownership Of NewtekOne The definition of company insiders can be subjective and does vary between jurisdictions. Our data reflects individual insiders, capturing board members at the very least. The company management answer to the board and the latter should represent the interests of shareholders. Notably, sometimes top-level managers are on the board themselves. Insider ownership is positive when it signals leadership are thinking like the true owners of the company. However, high insider ownership can also give immense power to a small group within the company. This can be negative in some circumstances. Shareholders would probably be interested to learn that insiders own shares in NewtekOne, Inc.. As individuals, the insiders collectively own US$19m worth of the US$308m company. Some would say this shows alignment of interests between shareholders and the board. But it might be worth checking if those insiders have been selling. General Public Ownership The general public -- including retail investors -- own 51% of NewtekOne. This size of ownership gives investors from the general public some collective power. They can and probably do influence decisions on executive compensation, dividend policies and proposed business acquisitions. Next Steps: I find it very interesting to look at who exactly owns a company. But to truly gain insight, we need to consider other information, too. For instance, we've identified 3 warning signs for NewtekOne (2 are potentially serious) that you should be aware of. But ultimately it is the future, not the past, that will determine how well the owners of this business will do. Therefore we think it advisable to take a look at this free report showing whether analysts are predicting a brighter future. NB: Figures in this article are calculated using data from the last twelve months, which refer to the 12-month period ending on the last date of the month the financial statement is dated. This may not be consistent with full year annual report figures. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store