Wall Street Zen Upgrades Driven Brands (NASDAQ:DRVN) to “Buy”

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Driven Brands (NASDAQ:DRVN) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report released on Saturday morning.

DRVN has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price objective on shares of Driven Brands from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 27th. BTIG Research initiated coverage on shares of Driven Brands in a report on Monday, June 30th. They set a “buy” rating and a $22.00 price target for the company. Robert W. Baird set a $25.00 price target on shares of Driven Brands in a report on Thursday, March 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Driven Brands in a report on Tuesday, June 3rd. They set a “neutral” rating and a $20.00 price target for the company. Finally, Benchmark initiated coverage on shares of Driven Brands in a report on Friday, April 4th. They set a “buy” rating and a $22.00 price target for the company. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $21.00.

Driven Brands Stock Up 0.9%

DRVN stock opened at $18.06 on Friday. Driven Brands has a twelve month low of $12.34 and a twelve month high of $18.72. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.07. The company has a market capitalization of $2.97 billion, a P/E ratio of -9.98, a PEG ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.09. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $17.59 and a 200-day simple moving average of $16.72.

Driven Brands (NASDAQ:DRVN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The company reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.23 by $0.04. Driven Brands had a negative net margin of 12.75% and a positive return on equity of 19.61%. The business had revenue of $516.16 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $492.19 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.23 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Driven Brands will post 0.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Driven Brands

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Bamco Inc. NY grew its stake in shares of Driven Brands by 35.7% in the 4th quarter. Bamco Inc. NY now owns 4,750,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $76,665,000 after buying an additional 1,250,000 shares in the last quarter. Norwood Investment Partners LP bought a new stake in Driven Brands during the first quarter worth approximately $15,892,000. North Peak Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Driven Brands by 8.6% in the fourth quarter. North Peak Capital Management LLC now owns 5,756,217 shares of the company’s stock valued at $92,905,000 after acquiring an additional 457,217 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Driven Brands in the first quarter valued at approximately $7,167,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Driven Brands by 54.2% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,186,095 shares of the company’s stock valued at $19,141,000 after acquiring an additional 416,744 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.08% of the company’s stock.

About Driven Brands

Driven Brands Holdings Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides automotive services to retail and commercial customers in the United States, Canada, and internationally. It offers various services, such as paint, collision, glass, repair, car wash, oil change, and maintenance services. The company also distributes automotive parts, including radiators, air conditioning components, and exhaust products to automotive repair shops, auto parts stores, body shops, and other auto repair outlets; windshields and glass accessories through a network of distribution centers; and consumable products, such as oil filters and wiper blades, as well as training services to repair and maintenance, and paint and collision shops.