BrightView (NYSE:BV) Stock Rating Upgraded by Wall Street Zen

BrightView (NYSE:BV - Get Free Report) was upgraded by Wall Street Zen from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report issued on Saturday.

Several other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on BV. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on BrightView from $20.00 to $19.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Loop Capital dropped their target price on BrightView from $21.00 to $20.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $17.27.

BrightView Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of NYSE BV traded down $0.08 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $15.31. 1,024,917 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 612,596. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.46 billion, a P/E ratio of -765.12 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 1.42 and a current ratio of 1.42. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $15.77 and a 200 day simple moving average of $14.76. BrightView has a twelve month low of $11.81 and a twelve month high of $18.89.

BrightView (NYSE:BV - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The company reported $0.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.12 by $0.02. BrightView had a return on equity of 8.29% and a net margin of 1.65%. The company had revenue of $662.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $643.29 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.11 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that BrightView will post 0.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at BrightView

In related news, major shareholder Kkr Group Partnership L.P. sold 11,600,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $14.40, for a total transaction of $167,040,000.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 21,533,123 shares in the company, valued at approximately $310,076,971.20. This represents a 35.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 2.20% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BrightView

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. First Trust Advisors LP acquired a new stake in shares of BrightView during the 4th quarter worth about $3,388,000. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC purchased a new position in BrightView in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,727,000. Deutsche Bank AG increased its stake in BrightView by 71.1% in the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 45,086 shares of the company's stock valued at $721,000 after purchasing an additional 18,742 shares during the last quarter. Trexquant Investment LP raised its holdings in BrightView by 38.8% during the fourth quarter. Trexquant Investment LP now owns 334,859 shares of the company's stock worth $5,354,000 after purchasing an additional 93,551 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MetLife Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in BrightView by 6.9% during the fourth quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 35,505 shares of the company's stock worth $568,000 after purchasing an additional 2,277 shares in the last quarter. 92.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

BrightView Company Profile

BrightView Holdings, Inc, through its subsidiaries, provides commercial landscaping services in the United States. It operates through two segments, Maintenance Services and Development Services. The Maintenance Services segment delivers a suite of recurring commercial landscaping services, including mowing, gardening, mulching and snow removal, water management, irrigation maintenance, tree care, golf course maintenance, and specialty turf maintenance.