Morgan Stanley Issues Positive Forecast for BrightView (NYSE:BV) Stock Price

BrightView (NYSE:BV) had its target price boosted by Morgan Stanley from $15.00 to $16.00 in a research note released on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an equal weight rating on the stock.

BV has been the topic of several other research reports. William Blair upgraded shares of BrightView from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded BrightView from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $13.00 to $17.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 21st. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on BrightView from $18.00 to $20.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of BrightView from $11.30 to $12.90 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Loop Capital increased their price objective on BrightView from $18.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, BrightView currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $17.11.

BrightView Price Performance

Shares of BrightView stock opened at $16.85 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $16.84 and its 200 day moving average is $15.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 1.44 and a current ratio of 1.44. BrightView has a one year low of $7.75 and a one year high of $18.89. The stock has a market cap of $1.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 153.18 and a beta of 1.30.

BrightView (NYSE:BV) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 13th. The company reported $0.30 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.28 by $0.02. BrightView had a net margin of 2.40% and a return on equity of 7.65%. The firm had revenue of $728.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $723.01 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.14 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that BrightView will post 0.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at BrightView

In other BrightView news, EVP Jonathan Mark Gottsegen sold 29,658 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.06, for a total transaction of $476,307.48. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 100,354 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,611,685.24. This represents a 22.81 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 2.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BrightView

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Driehaus Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in BrightView in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $13,086,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC acquired a new position in shares of BrightView in the second quarter worth about $9,857,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in BrightView by 28.5% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,140,676 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,772,000 after purchasing an additional 695,987 shares during the period. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of BrightView by 150.5% during the 3rd quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 632,394 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,954,000 after buying an additional 379,916 shares during the period. Finally, Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC raised its position in BrightView by 704.9% during the third quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC now owns 339,054 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,337,000 after acquiring an additional 296,931 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.41% of the company’s stock.

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.