BrightView Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BV) Short Interest Up 8.6% in July

BrightView Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BV) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in the month of July. As of July 15th, there was short interest totalling 5,200,000 shares, a growth of 8.6% from the June 30th total of 4,790,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 795,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 6.5 days. Approximately 8.8% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BV has been the topic of a number of research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “sell” rating and issued a $10.00 price objective (up from $8.00) on shares of BrightView in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Loop Capital began coverage on shares of BrightView in a research report on Monday. They issued a “buy” rating and a $18.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Robert W. Baird upgraded BrightView from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $13.00 to $17.00 in a research report on Tuesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, BrightView presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $13.80.

BrightView Trading Up 2.6 %

Shares of BrightView stock traded up $0.35 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $13.79. 466,980 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 673,980. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 70.70 and a beta of 1.30. BrightView has a twelve month low of $6.58 and a twelve month high of $14.42. The company has a current ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $13.53 and a 200 day simple moving average of $11.45.

BrightView (NYSE:BV) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The company reported $0.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.07 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $672.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $683.80 million. BrightView had a net margin of 1.80% and a return on equity of 5.78%. During the same quarter last year, the business earned ($0.12) earnings per share. BrightView’s revenue was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that BrightView will post 0.65 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at BrightView

In related news, major shareholder Kkr Group Partnership L.P. sold 17,500,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $12.48, for a total value of $218,400,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 33,133,123 shares in the company, valued at approximately $413,501,375.04. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 2.40% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BrightView

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new position in BrightView during the second quarter worth approximately $102,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BrightView during the 2nd quarter worth $9,857,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in shares of BrightView by 16.0% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 218,111 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,901,000 after buying an additional 30,042 shares during the period. &PARTNERS acquired a new position in BrightView in the second quarter valued at $1,497,000. Finally, Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. grew its position in BrightView by 273.4% during the second quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 252,478 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,358,000 after acquiring an additional 184,863 shares during the period. 92.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.