Bright Horizons Family Solutions Inc. (NYSE:BFAM) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Bright Horizons Family Solutions Inc. (NYSE:BFAM) has received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the nine brokerages that are covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have given a hold recommendation, five have issued a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $138.25.

BFAM has been the subject of several research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets upgraded Bright Horizons Family Solutions from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $137.00 to $125.00 in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Bright Horizons Family Solutions from $108.00 to $102.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Robert W. Baird raised shares of Bright Horizons Family Solutions from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $140.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. StockNews.com cut shares of Bright Horizons Family Solutions from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 25th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Bright Horizons Family Solutions from $137.00 to $149.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th.

Bright Horizons Family Solutions Stock Performance

Bright Horizons Family Solutions stock opened at $110.55 on Friday. Bright Horizons Family Solutions has a 12-month low of $91.61 and a 12-month high of $141.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.61 and a quick ratio of 0.61. The company has a market capitalization of $6.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.55 and a beta of 1.44. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $114.65 and its 200 day moving average price is $123.04.

Bright Horizons Family Solutions (NYSE:BFAM) last announced its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The company reported $1.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.06 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $719.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $713.16 million. Bright Horizons Family Solutions had a return on equity of 13.23% and a net margin of 4.44%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.78 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Bright Horizons Family Solutions will post 3.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Mary Ann Tocio sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $114.71, for a total transaction of $573,550.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 25,257 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,897,230.47. The trade was a 16.53 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Mary Lou Burke sold 800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.94, for a total transaction of $109,552.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 31,025 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,248,563.50. This represents a 2.51 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.22% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Bright Horizons Family Solutions

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in shares of Bright Horizons Family Solutions by 8.7% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 212,879 shares of the company’s stock valued at $23,434,000 after purchasing an additional 17,100 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc raised its position in shares of Bright Horizons Family Solutions by 18.0% during the 2nd quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 214,162 shares of the company’s stock worth $23,575,000 after buying an additional 32,600 shares in the last quarter. Candriam S.C.A. raised its position in shares of Bright Horizons Family Solutions by 40.6% during the 2nd quarter. Candriam S.C.A. now owns 7,615 shares of the company’s stock worth $838,000 after buying an additional 2,200 shares in the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Bright Horizons Family Solutions by 240.5% during the 2nd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 7,713 shares of the company’s stock worth $849,000 after buying an additional 5,448 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Bright Horizons Family Solutions by 73.3% in the 2nd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 390 shares of the company’s stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 165 shares during the period.

Bright Horizons Family Solutions Company Profile

Bright Horizons Family Solutions Inc provides early education and childcare, back-up care, educational advisory, and other workplace solutions services for employers and families in the United States, Puerto Rico, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Australia, and India. The company operates in three segments: Full Service Center-Based Child Care, Back-Up Care, and Educational Advisory and Other Services.