Short Interest in BrightView Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BV) Drops By 7.0%

BrightView Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BV) saw a significant drop in short interest in the month of November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 4,260,000 shares, a drop of 7.0% from the November 15th total of 4,580,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 510,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 8.3 days. Approximately 7.2% of the company’s shares are sold short.

BrightView Stock Down 1.9 %

Shares of BrightView stock opened at $16.72 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 1.44 and a quick ratio of 1.44. BrightView has a 1-year low of $7.75 and a 1-year high of $18.89. The business has a 50-day moving average of $16.88 and a 200-day moving average of $15.28. The company has a market capitalization of $1.59 billion, a PE ratio of 152.00 and a beta of 1.30.

BrightView (NYSE:BV) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 13th. The company reported $0.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.28 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $728.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $723.01 million. BrightView had a return on equity of 7.65% and a net margin of 2.40%. BrightView’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.14 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that BrightView will post 0.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Loop Capital lifted their price target on shares of BrightView from $18.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of BrightView from $18.00 to $20.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on BrightView from $11.30 to $12.90 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Jefferies Financial Group raised BrightView from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $13.00 to $17.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on BrightView from $15.00 to $16.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $17.11.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Jonathan Mark Gottsegen sold 29,658 shares of BrightView stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, 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 at this link. 2.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of 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 last quarter. Harvey Partners LLC grew its stake in BrightView by 9.1% in the third quarter. Harvey Partners LLC now owns 1,870,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,434,000 after purchasing an additional 156,500 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in BrightView by 18.2% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,337,545 shares of the company’s stock worth $21,057,000 after purchasing an additional 206,359 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in BrightView by 17.1% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,211,909 shares of the company’s stock valued at $19,075,000 after buying an additional 177,105 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Driehaus Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in BrightView during the second quarter valued at approximately $13,086,000. 92.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.