Russell Investments Group Ltd. Acquires 32,427 Shares of BrightView Holdings, Inc. $BV

Key Points

• Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its stake in BrightView Holdings by 8.2%, owning approximately 0.45% of the company valued at $5.48 million.
• A major shareholder, KKR Group Partnership L.P., sold 11.6 million shares, representing a 35.01% decrease in their position, for a total of $167 million.
• BrightView's stock received a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from analysts, with a current price target of $17.98, down from previous estimates.

Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of BrightView Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BV - Free Report) by 8.2% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 426,487 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 32,427 shares during the quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. owned 0.45% of BrightView worth $5,476,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in BV. Cooke & Bieler LP grew its holdings in shares of BrightView by 38.2% during the first quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 2,515,610 shares of the company's stock valued at $32,300,000 after buying an additional 695,315 shares during the last quarter. Interval Partners LP acquired a new position in shares of BrightView during the fourth quarter valued at about $10,728,000. Millennium Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of BrightView by 96.5% during the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 944,584 shares of the company's stock valued at $15,104,000 after buying an additional 463,983 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of BrightView by 12.6% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,063,472 shares of the company's stock valued at $64,976,000 after buying an additional 454,756 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of BrightView during the first quarter valued at about $4,500,000. 92.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BV has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Wall Street Zen cut shares of BrightView from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, August 9th. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on shares of BrightView from $20.00 to $19.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Finally, Loop Capital cut their price target on shares of BrightView from $21.00 to $20.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 3rd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, BrightView presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $17.98.

BrightView Stock Up 1.5%

BrightView stock traded up $0.22 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $14.83. 738,878 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 930,687. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 494.17 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a quick ratio of 1.31, a current ratio of 1.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. BrightView Holdings, Inc. has a 52-week low of $11.81 and a 52-week high of $18.89. The business's 50-day moving average price is $15.55 and its 200-day moving average price is $14.68.

BrightView (NYSE:BV - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.30 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.32 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $708.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $763.43 million. BrightView had a return on equity of 8.76% and a net margin of 2.00%.The business's revenue was down 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.32 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that BrightView Holdings, Inc. will post 0.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other BrightView news, EVP Amanda Marie Orders sold 70,000 shares of BrightView stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $14.78, for a total value of $1,034,600.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 38,446 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $568,231.88. The trade was a 64.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, major shareholder Kkr Group Partnership L.P. sold 11,600,000 shares of BrightView stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $14.40, for a total transaction of $167,040,000.00. Following the completion of 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 2.20% of the company's stock.

About BrightView

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.