Bailard Inc. Makes New $541,000 Investment in Bright Horizons Family Solutions Inc. (NYSE:BFAM)

Bailard Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Bright Horizons Family Solutions Inc. (NYSE:BFAM) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund purchased 4,878 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $541,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Bright Horizons Family Solutions by 62.8% in the fourth quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd now owns 7,097 shares of the company’s stock worth $787,000 after buying an additional 2,739 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC raised its stake in Bright Horizons Family Solutions by 63.0% in the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 29,078 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,075,000 after acquiring an additional 11,236 shares during the last quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund lifted its position in Bright Horizons Family Solutions by 45.4% during the 4th quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 115,183 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,768,000 after acquiring an additional 35,959 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its position in Bright Horizons Family Solutions by 560.0% during the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 9,180 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,286,000 after acquiring an additional 7,789 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in Bright Horizons Family Solutions by 15.4% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,181,050 shares of the company’s stock valued at $445,761,000 after purchasing an additional 423,456 shares during the last quarter.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on BFAM shares. Robert W. Baird raised Bright Horizons Family Solutions from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $140.00 target price for the company in a report on Friday, November 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased 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 research note on Friday, December 27th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Bright Horizons Family Solutions from $127.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Bright Horizons Family Solutions from $137.00 to $149.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Baird R W raised shares of Bright Horizons Family Solutions from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $137.67.

Bright Horizons Family Solutions Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of Bright Horizons Family Solutions stock opened at $128.84 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $119.32 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $124.34. 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 Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $100.59 and a fifty-two week high of $141.90. The company has a market cap of $7.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.68 and a beta of 1.45.

Bright Horizons Family Solutions (NYSE:BFAM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The company reported $0.88 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Bright Horizons Family Solutions Inc. will post 3.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.