Brookfield Asset Management Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:BAM)

Brookfield Asset Management Ltd. (NYSE:BAM) (TSE:BAM.A) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Traders purchased 6,924 put options on the stock. This is an increase of 751% compared to the typical daily volume of 814 put options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Scotiabank upped their price target on shares of Brookfield Asset Management from $46.50 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. CIBC upped their price target on shares of Brookfield Asset Management from $40.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Brookfield Asset Management from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 8th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Brookfield Asset Management from $49.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 8th. Finally, TD Securities cut their price objective on shares of Brookfield Asset Management from $52.00 to $49.00 and set an “action list buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $42.20.

Brookfield Asset Management Stock Performance

NYSE:BAM opened at $38.42 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.00, a PEG ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 1.68. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $41.03 and a 200 day moving average price of $37.47. Brookfield Asset Management has a fifty-two week low of $28.35 and a fifty-two week high of $43.00.

Brookfield Asset Management (NYSE:BAM) (TSE:BAM.A) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 7th. The financial services provider reported $0.36 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.13 billion during the quarter. Brookfield Asset Management had a net margin of 50.23% and a return on equity of 96.43%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.31 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Brookfield Asset Management will post 1.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Brookfield Asset Management Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 29th were given a dividend of $0.38 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 28th. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.96%. This is a boost from Brookfield Asset Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. Brookfield Asset Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 134.51%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Brookfield Asset Management

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Brookfield Asset Management by 2.8% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 44,050,716 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,491,950,000 after buying an additional 1,220,298 shares during the period. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in Brookfield Asset Management by 30,651.5% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 31,097,454 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $891,564,000 after acquiring an additional 30,996,329 shares in the last quarter. Partners Value Investments L.P. raised its stake in Brookfield Asset Management by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Partners Value Investments L.P. now owns 30,807,960 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,237,556,000 after acquiring an additional 280,098 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its stake in Brookfield Asset Management by 10.0% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 24,562,364 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $986,656,000 after acquiring an additional 2,241,372 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC raised its stake in Brookfield Asset Management by 10.2% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 14,217,008 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $473,859,000 after acquiring an additional 1,313,734 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.41% of the company’s stock.

Brookfield Asset Management Company Profile

Brookfield Asset Management Ltd. is a real estate investment firm specializing in alternative asset management services. Its renewable power and transition business includes the operates in the hydroelectric, wind, solar, distributed generation, and sustainable solution sector. The company's infrastructure business engages in the utilities, transport, midstream, and data infrastructure sectors.