BrightSphere Investment Group (NYSE:BSIG) Trading Down 2.7% Following Analyst Downgrade

BrightSphere Investment Group Inc. (NYSE:BSIG) dropped 2.7% during trading on Friday after Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on the stock from $26.00 to $25.00. Morgan Stanley currently has an underweight rating on the stock. BrightSphere Investment Group traded as low as $26.73 and last traded at $27.26. Approximately 70,757 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 72% from the average daily volume of 251,542 shares. The stock had previously closed at $28.02.

Several other equities analysts have also commented on BSIG. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $33.00 target price (up from $30.00) on shares of BrightSphere Investment Group in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Royal Bank of Canada downgraded BrightSphere Investment Group from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $30.00 to $33.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on BrightSphere Investment Group from $28.00 to $31.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of BrightSphere Investment Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $30.50.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of BrightSphere Investment Group by 2,397.6% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,122 shares of the company’s stock valued at $79,000 after acquiring an additional 2,997 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new stake in BrightSphere Investment Group in the third quarter worth approximately $89,000. Quest Partners LLC bought a new position in BrightSphere Investment Group during the 2nd quarter valued at $147,000. Verition Fund Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of BrightSphere Investment Group during the 3rd quarter valued at $213,000. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 3,561 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.69% of the company’s stock.

BrightSphere Investment Group Price Performance

The company has a fifty day moving average price of $28.97 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $25.48. The firm has a market cap of $1.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.37 and a beta of 1.45.

BrightSphere Investment Group (NYSE:BSIG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.52 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $123.10 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 period in the prior year, the business earned $0.45 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that BrightSphere Investment Group Inc. will post 2.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BrightSphere Investment Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a $0.01 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $0.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.15%. BrightSphere Investment Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 2.42%.

About BrightSphere Investment Group

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.