BrightView (NYSE:BV) Raised to Strong-Buy at Baird R W

Baird R W upgraded shares of BrightView (NYSE:BV) from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note published on Tuesday, Zacks.com reports.

Several other equities analysts have also issued reports on BV. Robert W. Baird raised BrightView from a neutral rating to an outperform rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $13.00 to $17.00 in a research report on Tuesday. Loop Capital initiated coverage on shares of BrightView in a research note on Monday, July 29th. They set a buy rating and a $18.00 price objective for the company. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a sell rating and issued a $10.00 target price (up previously from $8.00) on shares of BrightView in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $14.05.

BrightView Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BV opened at $14.31 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a current ratio of 1.67. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $13.57 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $11.58. BrightView has a fifty-two week low of $6.58 and a fifty-two week high of $15.68. The company has a market capitalization of $1.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 71.55 and a beta of 1.29.

BrightView (NYSE:BV) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The company reported $0.11 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.07 by $0.04. BrightView had a return on equity of 6.29% and a net margin of 2.06%. The company had revenue of $672.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $683.80 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($0.12) EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that BrightView will post 0.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at BrightView

In related news, major shareholder Kkr Group Partnership L.P. sold 17,500,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $12.48, for a total value of $218,400,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 33,133,123 shares in the company, valued at $413,501,375.04. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 2.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of BrightView

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its position in BrightView by 59.6% in the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 7,302 shares of the company’s stock worth $61,000 after buying an additional 2,726 shares in the last quarter. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new stake in BrightView in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $102,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. bought a new stake in BrightView during the 4th quarter worth approximately $91,000. Teacher Retirement System of Texas purchased a new position in BrightView during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $92,000. Finally, Aigen Investment Management LP purchased a new position in BrightView during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $94,000. 92.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.