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

Bright Horizons Family Solutions (NYSE:BFAM) was downgraded by analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a note issued to investors on Wednesday.

A number of other brokerages also recently weighed in on BFAM. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Bright Horizons Family Solutions from $108.00 to $102.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 12th. BMO Capital Markets raised Bright Horizons Family Solutions from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $137.00 to $125.00 in a research report on Monday, November 18th. UBS Group raised their price target on Bright Horizons Family Solutions from $145.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Bright Horizons Family Solutions from $125.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 30th. Finally, Baird R W upgraded shares of Bright Horizons Family Solutions from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $140.75.

Bright Horizons Family Solutions Trading Up 0.6 %

NYSE BFAM traded up $0.62 on Wednesday, hitting $109.70. 159,640 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 410,688. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 55.13 and a beta of 1.44. Bright Horizons Family Solutions has a 52-week low of $91.61 and a 52-week high of $141.90. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $117.54 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $123.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a current ratio of 0.61.

Bright Horizons Family Solutions (NYSE:BFAM) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. The company had revenue of $719.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $713.16 million. Bright Horizons Family Solutions had a net margin of 4.44% and a return on equity of 13.23%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.78 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Bright Horizons Family Solutions will post 3.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Mary Ann Tocio sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $114.71, for a total value of $573,550.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 25,257 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,897,230.47. This represents a 16.53 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Mary Lou Burke sold 800 shares of Bright Horizons Family Solutions stock in a transaction on Monday, October 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.94, for a total value of $109,552.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 31,025 shares in the company, valued at $4,248,563.50. This represents a 2.51 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.22% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BFAM. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in shares of Bright Horizons Family Solutions by 15.4% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,181,050 shares of the company’s stock valued at $445,761,000 after acquiring an additional 423,456 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC acquired a new stake in Bright Horizons Family Solutions in the 2nd quarter valued at about $28,995,000. Point72 Asset Management L.P. raised its position in Bright Horizons Family Solutions by 64.1% in the 2nd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 570,423 shares of the company’s stock valued at $62,792,000 after purchasing an additional 222,823 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its stake in shares of Bright Horizons Family Solutions by 174.0% in the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 344,397 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,260,000 after buying an additional 218,707 shares during the period. Finally, TimesSquare Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Bright Horizons Family Solutions during the third quarter worth about $13,639,000.

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.