JPMorgan Chase & Co. Sells 172,684 Shares of Driven Brands Holdings Inc. $DRVN

JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered its holdings in shares of Driven Brands Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:DRVN) by 5.2% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 3,148,088 shares of the company’s stock after selling 172,684 shares during the quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s holdings in Driven Brands were worth $50,716,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of DRVN. Western Standard LLC increased its stake in Driven Brands by 69.3% in the third quarter. Western Standard LLC now owns 693,413 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,171,000 after purchasing an additional 283,736 shares during the period. Advisory Research Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Driven Brands during the third quarter valued at $10,725,000. Elgethun Capital Management purchased a new stake in shares of Driven Brands during the third quarter valued at $8,137,000. North Peak Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Driven Brands by 9.0% in the second quarter. North Peak Capital Management LLC now owns 7,123,075 shares of the company’s stock worth $125,081,000 after purchasing an additional 589,556 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Simcoe Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Driven Brands in the 3rd quarter worth about $33,911,000. Institutional investors own 77.08% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Driven Brands

In related news, insider Scott L. O’melia sold 46,875 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.00, for a total value of $750,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 326,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,231,104. The trade was a 12.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 3.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Key Driven Brands News

Here are the key news stories impacting Driven Brands this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Proposed class-action settlement announced by lead counsel, which may cap some litigation risk and was a likely catalyst for buying interest today. Proposed Settlement Announcement
• Neutral Sentiment: Reported short-interest data appears to show zero reported short shares (likely a data error or reporting lag); days-to-cover reported as 0.0 — this is not meaningful evidence of a large short-squeeze. (Internal reporting entries dated 3/19–3/20.)
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple securities class actions and investor-alerts filed or announced by law firms (Hagens Berman, Rosen, Kessler Topaz, BFA, Bernstein Liebhard, Pomerantz, etc.) alleging pervasive accounting errors and internal control failures covering fiscal years 2023–2025 after the company said its financials can no longer be relied upon. This wave of litigation follows a reported ~39% stock drop tied to the disclosure and creates ongoing legal, financial restatement, and reputational risk. Hagens Berman Notice BFA/BusinessWire Notice

Analyst Ratings Changes

DRVN has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Driven Brands from $20.00 to $17.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 15th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Driven Brands from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Driven Brands in a research report on Monday, December 29th. William Blair raised shares of Driven Brands from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 3rd. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered Driven Brands from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $19.00 to $12.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Driven Brands currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $20.00.

Driven Brands Stock Up 2.7%

NASDAQ:DRVN opened at $10.75 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.44, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.80. Driven Brands Holdings Inc. has a 1-year low of $9.80 and a 1-year high of $19.74. The company has a 50-day moving average of $14.27 and a 200 day moving average of $15.06. The firm has a market cap of $1.77 billion, a PE ratio of -8.67 and a beta of 1.09.

Driven Brands (NASDAQ:DRVN) last posted its earnings results on Monday, March 23rd. The company reported $0.30 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.29 by $0.01. Driven Brands had a negative net margin of 9.14% and a positive return on equity of 25.31%. The business had revenue of $457.33 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $459.50 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.30 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Driven Brands Holdings Inc. will post 0.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Driven Brands Profile

Driven Brands Holdings Inc (NASDAQ: DRVN) is a leading North American provider of automotive aftermarket services, operating through a network of franchised and company-owned locations. The company’s platform encompasses a diverse portfolio of car care and maintenance brands, including Meineke Car Care Centers, Maaco Collision Repair & Auto Painting, Take 5 Oil Change, and Carstar Collision Repair. Driven Brands delivers a full range of services from routine maintenance and oil changes to collision repair, paint protection, and vehicle customization.

Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, Driven Brands serves both individual consumers and commercial clients across the United States and Canada.