Bright Horizons Family Solutions (NYSE:BFAM) Downgraded by StockNews.com to Sell

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

Several other research firms have also recently issued reports on BFAM. Robert W. Baird raised Bright Horizons Family Solutions from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $140.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. 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. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on shares of Bright Horizons Family Solutions from $162.00 to $142.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 27th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Bright Horizons Family Solutions from $145.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Bright Horizons Family Solutions from $108.00 to $102.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $138.25.

Bright Horizons Family Solutions Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE:BFAM opened at $119.20 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $112.18 and its 200-day moving average price is $124.06. Bright Horizons Family Solutions has a 12-month low of $94.83 and a 12-month high of $141.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 59.90 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a current ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66.

Bright Horizons Family Solutions (NYSE:BFAM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The company reported $1.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.06 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $719.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $713.16 million. Bright Horizons Family Solutions had a return on equity of 13.23% and a net margin of 4.44%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.78 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Bright Horizons Family Solutions will post 3.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Mary Ann Tocio sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $114.71, for a total transaction of $573,550.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 25,257 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,897,230.47. The trade was a 16.53 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 1.22% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in Bright Horizons Family Solutions in the 4th quarter worth $271,000. Merit Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Bright Horizons Family Solutions during the 4th quarter valued at about $215,000. Avanza Fonder AB bought a new position in Bright Horizons Family Solutions during the 4th quarter valued at about $93,000. Park Avenue Securities LLC grew its holdings in Bright Horizons Family Solutions by 23.4% during the 4th quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 3,881 shares of the company’s stock valued at $430,000 after purchasing an additional 736 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in Bright Horizons Family Solutions by 17.3% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 98,650 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,935,000 after acquiring an additional 14,583 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.