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

Shares of Bright Horizons Family Solutions Inc. (NYSE:BFAM - Get Free Report) have received a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the ten research firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $138.67.

A number of research firms recently weighed in on BFAM. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Bright Horizons Family Solutions from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and decreased their price target for the company from $146.00 to $135.00 in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Bright Horizons Family Solutions from $100.00 to $106.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Bright Horizons Family Solutions

In other news, CFO Elizabeth J. Boland sold 3,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $132.16, for a total value of $462,560.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 80,162 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,594,209.92. This trade represents a 4.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director David H. Lissy sold 6,282 shares of Bright Horizons Family Solutions stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $130.10, for a total value of $817,288.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 69,312 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,017,491.20. This represents a 8.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 13,282 shares of company stock valued at $1,726,433. Corporate insiders own 1.21% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Bright Horizons Family Solutions

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Bright Horizons Family Solutions by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,442,777 shares of the company's stock valued at $603,332,000 after purchasing an additional 101,151 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Bright Horizons Family Solutions by 60.4% in the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,958,538 shares of the company's stock worth $549,654,000 after purchasing an additional 1,868,117 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in Bright Horizons Family Solutions by 23.8% during the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,391,997 shares of the company's stock valued at $557,959,000 after buying an additional 845,391 shares during the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Bright Horizons Family Solutions by 3.1% during the first quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 3,200,371 shares of the company's stock valued at $406,575,000 after acquiring an additional 95,860 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in Bright Horizons Family Solutions by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,589,014 shares of the company's stock valued at $328,908,000 after acquiring an additional 29,425 shares during the period.

Bright Horizons Family Solutions Price Performance

Shares of BFAM stock traded up $1.35 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $123.66. 461,067 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 468,390. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $124.15 and a two-hundred day moving average of $121.28. Bright Horizons Family Solutions has a fifty-two week low of $103.75 and a fifty-two week high of $141.90. The firm has a market cap of $7.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.64 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66.

Bright Horizons Family Solutions (NYSE:BFAM - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The company reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.14. Bright Horizons Family Solutions had a net margin of 5.91% and a return on equity of 14.62%. The business had revenue of $665.53 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $664.34 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.51 EPS. The business's revenue was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Bright Horizons Family Solutions will post 3.61 EPS for the current year.

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.