Empowered Funds LLC Grows Stock Position in BrightView Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BV)

Empowered Funds LLC lifted its stake in BrightView Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BV) by 5.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 498,185 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 24,328 shares during the quarter. Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings in BrightView were worth $7,966,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of BV. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its holdings in BrightView by 8.7% in the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 17,896 shares of the company’s stock valued at $238,000 after buying an additional 1,431 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning increased its stake in shares of BrightView by 18.7% in the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 22,455 shares of the company’s stock valued at $299,000 after purchasing an additional 3,532 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its holdings in BrightView by 73.1% in the 3rd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 13,563 shares of the company’s stock worth $213,000 after purchasing an additional 5,727 shares during the period. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC boosted its position in BrightView by 24.6% during the third quarter. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC now owns 231,835 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,649,000 after purchasing an additional 45,793 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in BrightView by 150.5% in the third quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 632,394 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,954,000 after purchasing an additional 379,916 shares during the period. 92.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on BrightView from $11.30 to $12.90 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Loop Capital upped their price objective on shares of BrightView from $18.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. BTIG Research assumed coverage on shares of BrightView in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $22.00 target price on the stock. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of BrightView from $15.00 to $16.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, William Blair upgraded BrightView from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned 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 has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $17.11.

BrightView Stock Performance

BV opened at $14.59 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.39 billion, a PE ratio of 81.03 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a current ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. BrightView Holdings, Inc. has a twelve month low of $8.12 and a twelve month high of $18.89. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $16.04 and its 200 day moving average price is $15.91.

BrightView (NYSE:BV) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 13th. The company reported $0.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.28 by $0.02. BrightView had a return on equity of 7.86% and a net margin of 2.64%. The business had revenue of $728.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $723.01 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.14 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that BrightView Holdings, Inc. will post 0.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at BrightView

In other BrightView news, EVP Jonathan Mark Gottsegen sold 29,658 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.06, for a total value of $476,307.48. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 100,354 shares in the company, valued at $1,611,685.24. The trade was a 22.81 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 2.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.