Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. Purchases 35,492 Shares of Bright Horizons Family Solutions Inc. (NYSE:BFAM)

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. grew its position in Bright Horizons Family Solutions Inc. (NYSE:BFAM) by 24.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 182,888 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 35,492 shares during the period. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. owned about 0.32% of Bright Horizons Family Solutions worth $20,132,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in BFAM. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Bright Horizons Family Solutions during the 4th quarter worth $57,363,000. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC bought a new stake in Bright Horizons Family Solutions during the 1st quarter worth approximately $64,735,000. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado raised its holdings in Bright Horizons Family Solutions by 4,227.1% during the 4th quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 294,024 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,709,000 after buying an additional 287,229 shares during the period. M&G Plc bought a new position in Bright Horizons Family Solutions in the first quarter valued at approximately $27,467,000. Finally, Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Bright Horizons Family Solutions by 10.5% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 1,348,432 shares of the company’s stock valued at $127,076,000 after buying an additional 128,632 shares during the period.

Insider Buying and Selling at Bright Horizons Family Solutions

In other news, COO Mary Lou Burke sold 1,000 shares of Bright Horizons Family Solutions stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $120.00, for a total transaction of $120,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 35,925 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,311,000. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, Director Mary Ann Tocio sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $130.93, for a total value of $327,325.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 30,257 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,961,549.01. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Mary Lou Burke sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $120.00, for a total transaction of $120,000.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 35,925 shares in the company, valued at $4,311,000. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 24,635 shares of company stock valued at $3,198,948 in the last ninety days. 1.22% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on BFAM. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Bright Horizons Family Solutions from $125.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Bright Horizons Family Solutions from $115.00 to $131.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Bright Horizons Family Solutions from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on shares of Bright Horizons Family Solutions from $114.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Bright Horizons Family Solutions from $119.00 to $137.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Bright Horizons Family Solutions presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $129.25.

Bright Horizons Family Solutions Stock Performance

Shares of BFAM stock opened at $140.68 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $8.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 99.07 and a beta of 1.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a current ratio of 0.56. Bright Horizons Family Solutions Inc. has a 52 week low of $71.65 and a 52 week high of $141.90. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $129.07 and a 200 day simple moving average of $116.52.

Bright Horizons Family Solutions (NYSE:BFAM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported $0.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.73 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $670.10 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $666.17 million. Bright Horizons Family Solutions had a return on equity of 12.86% and a net margin of 3.98%. The business’s revenue was up 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.54 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Bright Horizons Family Solutions Inc. will post 2.98 earnings per share for the current year.

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.