Morgan Stanley Cuts BrightView (NYSE:BV) Price Target to $12.50

BrightView (NYSE:BV) had its price objective lowered by Morgan Stanley from $14.00 to $12.50 in a report published on Thursday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage currently has an equal weight rating on the stock.

BV has been the subject of several other research reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of BrightView in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Zacks Research cut shares of BrightView from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. Oppenheimer started coverage on shares of BrightView in a report on Wednesday, June 17th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $17.00 price target for the company. BTIG Research reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $16.00 price target on shares of BrightView in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of BrightView from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $13.00 to $14.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, BrightView currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $14.10.

BrightView Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BV opened at $11.41 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.06 billion, a PE ratio of -45.64 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 1.23. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $13.44 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $12.94. BrightView has a fifty-two week low of $10.42 and a fifty-two week high of $15.82.

BrightView (NYSE:BV) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The company reported $0.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.29 by ($0.12). BrightView had a return on equity of 5.03% and a net margin of 0.74%.The company had revenue of $717.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $726.13 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.30 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that BrightView will post 0.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BrightView news, Director William L. Cornog bought 50,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 6th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $11.25 per share, for a total transaction of $562,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 70,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $787,500. The trade was a 250.00% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. 2.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Royal Bank of Canada grew its holdings in shares of BrightView by 4.7% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 699,959 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,988,000 after purchasing an additional 31,291 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in BrightView by 75.9% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 209,995 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,696,000 after purchasing an additional 90,627 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its stake in BrightView by 7.1% in the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 35,443 shares of the company’s stock valued at $455,000 after purchasing an additional 2,349 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC boosted its position in BrightView by 54.2% in the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,456,682 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,704,000 after buying an additional 512,098 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in BrightView by 11.3% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,658,306 shares of the company’s stock valued at $21,293,000 after buying an additional 167,966 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.41% of the company’s stock.

About BrightView

BrightView Inc (NYSE:BV) is a leading commercial landscaping services company in the United States, offering a comprehensive suite of outdoor asset management solutions. The company’s core business activities include landscape maintenance, development and enhancement services tailored to a wide array of clients such as corporate campuses, healthcare facilities, multi-family residential properties, retail centers and municipalities.

BrightView’s service portfolio covers routine grounds maintenance, landscape construction and design-build, irrigation system installation and management, tree care, seasonal color programs and snow and ice management.