Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. Increases Holdings in Bright Horizons Family Solutions Inc. (NYSE:BFAM)

Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. increased its stake in shares of Bright Horizons Family Solutions Inc. (NYSE:BFAM) by 9.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 16,364 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,364 shares during the quarter. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P.’s holdings in Bright Horizons Family Solutions were worth $1,814,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BFAM. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Bright Horizons Family Solutions during the fourth quarter worth $79,578,000. William Blair Investment Management LLC increased its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 532,644 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 423,456 shares during the last quarter. TimesSquare Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Bright Horizons Family Solutions by 114.8% during the fourth quarter. TimesSquare Capital Management LLC now owns 209,091 shares of the company’s stock worth $23,178,000 after acquiring an additional 111,760 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in Bright Horizons Family Solutions by 24.3% during the fourth quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC now owns 294,835 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,682,000 after acquiring an additional 57,575 shares during the last quarter.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Bright Horizons Family Solutions Trading Down 1.4 %

BFAM opened at $124.58 on Friday. Bright Horizons Family Solutions Inc. has a 12 month low of $100.59 and a 12 month high of $141.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.91 and a beta of 1.50. 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 business has a fifty day moving average price of $123.44 and a 200 day moving average price of $123.47.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BFAM has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group cut their target price on Bright Horizons Family Solutions from $148.00 to $130.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped 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 note on Thursday, January 23rd. Robert W. Baird raised Bright Horizons Family Solutions from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $140.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. StockNews.com raised Bright Horizons Family Solutions from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 22nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Bright Horizons Family Solutions has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $137.67.

Bright Horizons Family Solutions 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.