First Trust Advisors LP Acquires 40,371 Shares of Bright Horizons Family Solutions Inc. (NYSE:BFAM)

First Trust Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Bright Horizons Family Solutions Inc. (NYSE:BFAM - Free Report) by 23.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 209,748 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 40,371 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP owned about 0.36% of Bright Horizons Family Solutions worth $23,251,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. NewEdge Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Bright Horizons Family Solutions by 12.8% in the fourth quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 5,438 shares of the company's stock valued at $603,000 after buying an additional 615 shares during the period. Jump Financial LLC bought a new position in Bright Horizons Family Solutions during the fourth quarter worth about $4,203,000. XTX Topco Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Bright Horizons Family Solutions by 106.1% in the 4th quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 12,578 shares of the company's stock worth $1,394,000 after buying an additional 6,475 shares in the last quarter. Mariner LLC raised its holdings in shares of Bright Horizons Family Solutions by 9.0% in the 4th quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 7,446 shares of the company's stock worth $825,000 after buying an additional 612 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC lifted its position in shares of Bright Horizons Family Solutions by 57.5% during the 4th quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 30,272 shares of the company's stock worth $3,355,000 after buying an additional 11,057 shares during the period.

Insider Activity at Bright Horizons Family Solutions

In related news, Director Mary Ann Tocio sold 2,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $124.74, for a total transaction of $311,850.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 22,757 shares in the company, valued at $2,838,708.18. This trade represents a 9.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Mary Lou Burke sold 1,000 shares of Bright Horizons Family Solutions stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $124.69, for a total value of $124,690.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 33,449 shares in the company, valued at $4,170,755.81. This represents a 2.90 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.22% of the company's stock.

Bright Horizons Family Solutions Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of BFAM stock traded down $1.56 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $123.86. The company had a trading volume of 72,815 shares, compared to its average volume of 441,006. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.61 and a quick ratio of 0.61. Bright Horizons Family Solutions Inc. has a 1-year low of $100.59 and a 1-year high of $141.90. The company has a 50 day moving average of $122.75 and a 200 day moving average of $119.80. The firm has a market cap of $7.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.75 and a beta of 1.31.

Bright Horizons Family Solutions (NYSE:BFAM - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The company reported $0.88 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.91 by ($0.03). Bright Horizons Family Solutions had a net margin of 5.22% and a return on equity of 13.63%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Bright Horizons Family Solutions Inc. will post 3.61 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have issued reports on BFAM shares. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on Bright Horizons Family Solutions from $155.00 to $132.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Bright Horizons Family Solutions from $148.00 to $130.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 24th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Bright Horizons Family Solutions from $102.00 to $100.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. StockNews.com raised shares of Bright Horizons Family Solutions from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, February 22nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Bright Horizons Family Solutions from $127.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $137.67.

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.