Bright Horizons Family Solutions Inc. (NYSE:BFAM) Receives $137.67 Consensus Price Target from Analysts

Shares of Bright Horizons Family Solutions Inc. (NYSE:BFAM) have been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the ten ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have issued a hold recommendation, six have issued a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $137.67.

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on BFAM shares. Robert W. Baird raised 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 note on Friday, November 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on Bright Horizons Family Solutions from $162.00 to $142.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 27th. Baird R W raised Bright Horizons Family Solutions from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Bright Horizons Family Solutions from $127.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Bright Horizons Family Solutions from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 22nd.

Bright Horizons Family Solutions Price Performance

Bright Horizons Family Solutions stock opened at $124.58 on Wednesday. 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 $7.14 billion, a PE ratio of 51.91 and a beta of 1.50. Bright Horizons Family Solutions has a one year low of $100.59 and a one year high of $141.90. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $123.44 and a 200 day simple moving average of $123.47.

Bright Horizons Family Solutions (NYSE:BFAM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The company reported $0.88 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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, sell-side analysts forecast that Bright Horizons Family Solutions will post 3.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Bright Horizons Family Solutions

In other Bright Horizons Family Solutions news, COO Mary Lou Burke sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $124.69, for a total transaction 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Mary Ann Tocio sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $124.74, for a total value of $311,850.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 22,757 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,838,708.18. The trade was a 9.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Bright Horizons Family Solutions by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,442,777 shares of the company’s stock worth $603,332,000 after buying an additional 101,151 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Bright Horizons Family Solutions by 60.4% during 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 buying an additional 1,868,117 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in shares of Bright Horizons Family Solutions by 16.9% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,546,606 shares of the company’s stock worth $393,141,000 after buying an additional 511,905 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in shares of Bright Horizons Family Solutions by 15.4% during the third 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 in the last quarter. Finally, William Blair Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Bright Horizons Family Solutions by 29.0% during the fourth quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 2,370,336 shares of the company’s stock worth $262,752,000 after buying an additional 532,644 shares in the last quarter.

About Bright Horizons Family Solutions

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.