The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Increases Stake in BrightView Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BV)

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its stake in shares of BrightView Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BV) by 71.2% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 30,641 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 12,745 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company’s holdings in BrightView were worth $482,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in BrightView by 28.5% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,140,676 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,772,000 after buying an additional 695,987 shares during the last quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of BrightView in the 2nd quarter valued at about $13,086,000. Telemark Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of BrightView by 14.3% in the 3rd quarter. Telemark Asset Management LLC now owns 800,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,592,000 after acquiring an additional 100,000 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC purchased a new stake in BrightView during the second quarter worth approximately $9,857,000. Finally, Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. boosted 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 in the last quarter. 92.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on BV. Loop Capital raised their price objective on shares of BrightView from $18.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of BrightView from $18.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of BrightView from $11.30 to $12.90 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research 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 stock from $13.00 to $17.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 21st. Finally, BTIG Research initiated coverage on BrightView in a report on Monday, December 2nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $22.00 target price for the company. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $17.11.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Jonathan Mark Gottsegen sold 29,658 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.06, for a total value of $476,307.48. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 100,354 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,611,685.24. This trade represents a 22.81 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 2.40% of the company’s stock.

BrightView Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of BrightView stock opened at $16.85 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $16.84 and its two-hundred day moving average is $15.22. BrightView Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $7.75 and a 1 year high of $18.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 1.44 and a current ratio of 1.44. The company has a market capitalization of $1.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 153.18 and a beta of 1.30.

BrightView (NYSE:BV) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 13th. The company reported $0.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $728.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $723.01 million. BrightView had a return on equity of 7.65% and a net margin of 2.40%. The business’s revenue was down 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.14 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that BrightView Holdings, Inc. will post 0.75 earnings per share for the current year.

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.