BrightSphere Investment Group Inc. (NYSE:BSIG) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently 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 lowered shares of BrightSphere Investment Group from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $30.00 to $33.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. StockNews.com raised shares of BrightSphere Investment Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Morgan Stanley lowered 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 note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $33.00 price objective (up from $30.00) on shares of BrightSphere Investment Group in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $30.50.

Institutional Trading of BrightSphere Investment Group

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BSIG. Azora Capital LP lifted its position in BrightSphere Investment Group by 10.7% during the third quarter. Azora Capital LP now owns 2,028,358 shares of the company’s stock valued at $51,520,000 after buying an additional 195,728 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its position in BrightSphere Investment Group by 25.3% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 968,936 shares of the company’s stock valued at $24,611,000 after acquiring an additional 195,417 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its stake in BrightSphere Investment Group by 297.9% during the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 154,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,414,000 after acquiring an additional 115,300 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP purchased a new stake in BrightSphere Investment Group in the second quarter worth about $1,870,000. Finally, Maverick Capital Ltd. bought a new position in shares of BrightSphere Investment Group during the second quarter valued at approximately $1,204,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.69% of the company’s stock.

BrightSphere Investment Group Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE BSIG opened at $26.34 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $28.98 and its 200 day moving average is $25.74. BrightSphere Investment Group has a 52 week low of $18.09 and a 52 week high of $31.52. The company has a market cap of $982.96 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.96 and a beta of 1.45.

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

BrightSphere Investment Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th were issued a $0.01 dividend. This represents a $0.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.15%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. BrightSphere Investment Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.