Bright Horizons Family Solutions (NYSE:BFAM) Rating Lowered to “Sell” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of Bright Horizons Family Solutions (NYSE:BFAM) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report released on Wednesday.

BFAM has been the topic of several other reports. Baird R W upgraded shares of Bright Horizons Family Solutions from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Bright Horizons Family Solutions from $142.00 to $162.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Bright Horizons Family Solutions from $137.00 to $149.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of Bright Horizons Family Solutions from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $140.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Bright Horizons Family Solutions from $145.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Bright Horizons Family Solutions has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $138.25.

Bright Horizons Family Solutions Price Performance

BFAM stock opened at $110.53 on Wednesday. Bright Horizons Family Solutions has a 1 year low of $91.61 and a 1 year 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 firm has a market capitalization of $6.43 billion, a PE ratio of 55.54 and a beta of 1.43. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $116.68 and a 200-day simple moving average of $122.87.

Bright Horizons Family Solutions (NYSE:BFAM) last issued its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The company reported $1.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.06 by $0.05. Bright Horizons Family Solutions had a return on equity of 13.23% and a net margin of 4.44%. The company had revenue of $719.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $713.16 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.78 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Bright Horizons Family Solutions will post 3.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Mary Lou Burke sold 800 shares of the business’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 completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 31,025 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,248,563.50. The trade was a 2.51 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Mary Ann Tocio sold 5,000 shares of the company’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 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.22% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Bright Horizons Family Solutions

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of BFAM. Cerity Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Bright Horizons Family Solutions by 63.0% in the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 29,078 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,075,000 after buying an additional 11,236 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its stake in Bright Horizons Family Solutions by 560.0% in the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 9,180 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,286,000 after purchasing an additional 7,789 shares during the period. TimesSquare Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Bright Horizons Family Solutions in the 3rd quarter valued at $13,639,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in Bright Horizons Family Solutions by 15.4% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,181,050 shares of the company’s stock worth $445,761,000 after buying an additional 423,456 shares during the period. Finally, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Bright Horizons Family Solutions by 19.7% during the third quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 218,859 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,669,000 after buying an additional 35,971 shares in the last quarter.

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.