Principal Financial Group Inc. Acquires New Position in BrightView Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BV)

Principal Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in BrightView Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BV - Free Report) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 45,929 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $723,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new stake in BrightView during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $102,000. Kathmere Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of BrightView during the second quarter valued at $133,000. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its holdings in shares of BrightView by 73.1% during the third 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. Caxton Associates LP bought a new stake in shares of BrightView in the first quarter worth $201,000. Finally, Arizona State Retirement System increased its holdings in BrightView by 48.4% in the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 17,177 shares of the company's stock valued at $228,000 after purchasing an additional 5,601 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.41% of the company's stock.

BrightView Stock Up 2.2 %

Shares of BV traded up $0.37 on Friday, reaching $17.03. The company's stock had a trading volume of 590,434 shares, compared to its average volume of 495,537. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.62 billion, a PE ratio of 154.82 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a current ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. BrightView Holdings, Inc. has a twelve month low of $7.29 and a twelve month high of $18.89. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $16.36 and a 200-day moving average of $14.85.

BrightView (NYSE:BV - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 13th. The company reported $0.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.28 by $0.02. The company 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 company's revenue for the quarter was down 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.14 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that BrightView Holdings, Inc. will post 0.75 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at BrightView

In other BrightView news, EVP Jonathan Mark Gottsegen sold 29,658 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.06, for a total transaction of $476,307.48. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 100,354 shares in the company, valued at $1,611,685.24. This represents a 22.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 2.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. William Blair upgraded BrightView from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of BrightView from $11.00 to $14.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Morgan Stanley started coverage on BrightView in a research report on Thursday, August 22nd. They issued an "equal weight" rating and a $16.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised BrightView from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their target price for the stock from $13.00 to $17.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 21st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, BrightView currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $16.41.

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.