Bright Horizons Family Solutions Inc. (NYSE:BFAM) Short Interest Update

Bright Horizons Family Solutions Inc. (NYSE:BFAM) saw a large growth in short interest during the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 535,500 shares, a growth of 8.8% from the October 15th total of 492,300 shares. Approximately 0.9% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 414,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.3 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Mary Lou Burke sold 800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.94, for a total value of $109,552.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 31,025 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,248,563.50. This represents a 2.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.22% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Bright Horizons Family Solutions

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its stake in shares of Bright Horizons Family Solutions by 15.0% during the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 8,817 shares of the company’s stock worth $999,000 after buying an additional 1,147 shares during the last quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System lifted its stake in shares of Bright Horizons Family Solutions by 3.9% in the 1st quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 65,120 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,382,000 after purchasing an additional 2,440 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Bright Horizons Family Solutions by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,356,758 shares of the company’s stock valued at $607,242,000 after purchasing an additional 29,942 shares during the period. Mirova boosted its position in shares of Bright Horizons Family Solutions by 6.5% in the 1st quarter. Mirova now owns 22,868 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,592,000 after purchasing an additional 1,403 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Bright Horizons Family Solutions by 7.0% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 222,061 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,173,000 after purchasing an additional 14,527 shares during the period.

Bright Horizons Family Solutions Price Performance

Shares of BFAM stock opened at $108.00 on Tuesday. Bright Horizons Family Solutions has a 52 week low of $86.79 and a 52 week high of $141.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.28 billion, a PE ratio of 54.27 and a beta of 1.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a current ratio of 0.61. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $131.45 and its 200-day moving average is $122.63.

Bright Horizons Family Solutions (NYSE:BFAM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The company reported $1.11 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.06 by $0.05. Bright Horizons Family Solutions had a net margin of 4.44% and a return on equity of 13.23%. The firm had revenue of $719.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $713.16 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.78 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 11.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Bright Horizons Family Solutions will post 3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on BFAM. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Bright Horizons Family Solutions from $125.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on Bright Horizons Family Solutions from $114.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. BMO Capital Markets upgraded Bright Horizons Family Solutions from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $137.00 to $125.00 in a research report on Monday. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on Bright Horizons Family Solutions from $145.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $141.50.

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.