Bright Horizons Family Solutions Inc. (NYSE:BFAM) Shares Bought by Assenagon Asset Management S.A.

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in Bright Horizons Family Solutions Inc. (NYSE:BFAM - Free Report) by 17.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 98,650 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 14,583 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned approximately 0.17% of Bright Horizons Family Solutions worth $10,935,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of BFAM. Cerity Partners LLC grew its position in Bright Horizons Family Solutions by 63.0% during 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. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its stake in shares of Bright Horizons Family Solutions by 560.0% during the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 9,180 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,286,000 after purchasing an additional 7,789 shares during the period. TimesSquare Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Bright Horizons Family Solutions in the third quarter worth approximately $13,639,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings 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 worth $445,761,000 after purchasing an additional 423,456 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. increased its stake in shares of Bright Horizons Family Solutions by 19.7% in the third quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 218,859 shares of the company's stock worth $30,669,000 after buying an additional 35,971 shares during the period.

Insider Buying and Selling at Bright Horizons Family Solutions

In related news, Director Mary Ann Tocio sold 5,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $114.71, for a total transaction of $573,550.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 25,257 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,897,230.47. The trade was a 16.53 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 1.22% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on BFAM shares. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Bright Horizons Family Solutions from $108.00 to $102.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded Bright Horizons Family Solutions from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and reduced their price target for the company from $137.00 to $125.00 in a report on Monday, November 18th. 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 report on Friday, December 27th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Bright Horizons Family Solutions from $145.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upgraded 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Bright Horizons Family Solutions presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $138.25.

Bright Horizons Family Solutions Stock Down 0.2 %

NYSE BFAM traded down $0.20 during trading on Friday, hitting $117.47. The company's stock had a trading volume of 256,725 shares, compared to its average volume of 369,123. Bright Horizons Family Solutions Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $94.83 and a fifty-two week high of $141.90. 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 company has a market cap of $6.83 billion, a PE ratio of 59.03 and a beta of 1.44. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $112.11 and its 200-day simple moving average is $123.91.

Bright Horizons Family Solutions (NYSE:BFAM - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The company reported $1.11 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.06 by $0.05. Bright Horizons Family Solutions had a return on equity of 13.23% and a net margin of 4.44%. The business had revenue of $719.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $713.16 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.78 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 11.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Bright Horizons Family Solutions Inc. will post 3.01 EPS 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.