BrightSphere Investment Group Inc. (NYSE:BSIG) Short Interest Update

BrightSphere Investment Group Inc. (NYSE:BSIG) saw a significant growth in short interest in December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,540,000 shares, a growth of 6.9% from the November 30th total of 1,440,000 shares. Currently, 4.2% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 209,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 7.3 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on BSIG shares. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on BrightSphere Investment Group from $28.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Royal Bank of Canada downgraded BrightSphere Investment Group from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $30.00 to $33.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. StockNews.com upgraded BrightSphere Investment Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. BMO Capital Markets reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $33.00 target price (up from $30.00) on shares of BrightSphere Investment Group in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of BrightSphere Investment Group from $26.00 to $25.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $30.50.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of BSIG. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its stake in BrightSphere Investment Group by 67.9% in the 2nd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 8,802 shares of the company’s stock worth $195,000 after purchasing an additional 3,561 shares during the period. Quest Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of BrightSphere Investment Group during the second quarter worth $147,000. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in BrightSphere Investment Group by 5.6% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 50,729 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,125,000 after acquiring an additional 2,693 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in BrightSphere Investment Group by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,126,772 shares of the company’s stock valued at $24,980,000 after acquiring an additional 4,399 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its stake in BrightSphere Investment Group by 297.9% in the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 154,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,414,000 after purchasing an additional 115,300 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.69% of the company’s stock.

BrightSphere Investment Group Stock Performance

NYSE BSIG opened at $26.34 on Thursday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $28.98 and its 200 day moving average is $25.74. BrightSphere Investment Group has a fifty-two week low of $18.09 and a fifty-two week high of $31.52. The company has a market capitalization of $982.96 million, a PE ratio of 15.96 and a beta of 1.45.

BrightSphere Investment Group (NYSE:BSIG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.07. BrightSphere Investment Group had a return on equity of 7,606.72% and a net margin of 13.92%. The firm had revenue of $123.10 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $114.95 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.45 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that BrightSphere Investment Group will post 2.59 EPS for the current year.

BrightSphere Investment Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th were given a dividend of $0.01 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $0.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.15%. BrightSphere Investment Group’s payout ratio is 2.42%.

BrightSphere Investment Group Company Profile

BrightSphere Investment Group Inc is a publically owned asset management holding company. The firm provides its services to individuals and institutions. It manages separate client focused portfolios through its subsidiaries. The firm also launches equity mutual funds for its clients. It invests in public equity, fixed income, and alternative investment markets through its subsidiaries.