Traders Buy Large Volume of Put Options on Brookfield Asset Management (NYSE:BAM)

Brookfield Asset Management Ltd. (NYSE:BAM) (TSE:BAM.A) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Thursday. Traders acquired 6,924 put options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 751% compared to the average daily volume of 814 put options.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Brookfield Asset Management

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Brookfield Asset Management by 127.8% during the 4th quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 62,914 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,537,000 after buying an additional 35,300 shares during the last quarter. America First Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Brookfield Asset Management by 107.3% during the 3rd quarter. America First Investment Advisors LLC now owns 338,692 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $11,292,000 after buying an additional 175,316 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Brookfield Asset Management by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,402,885 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $346,832,000 after buying an additional 120,714 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Brookfield Asset Management by 55.5% during the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 364,179 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $12,145,000 after buying an additional 129,907 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Brookfield Asset Management by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,594,743 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $53,169,000 after buying an additional 11,416 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BAM has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. HSBC cut Brookfield Asset Management from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. TD Securities lowered their price objective on Brookfield Asset Management from $52.00 to $49.00 and set an “action list buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 9th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Brookfield Asset Management from $49.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on 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. Finally, CIBC raised their price objective on Brookfield Asset Management from $40.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Brookfield Asset Management has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $42.20.

Brookfield Asset Management Stock Performance

Shares of BAM opened at $38.32 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $40.99 and a two-hundred day moving average of $37.52. Brookfield Asset Management has a one year low of $28.35 and a one year high of $43.00. The stock has a market cap of $15.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.91, a P/E/G ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.68.

Brookfield Asset Management (NYSE:BAM) (TSE:BAM.A) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The financial services provider reported $0.36 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.13 billion during the quarter. Brookfield Asset Management had a return on equity of 96.43% and a net margin of 50.23%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.31 EPS. Analysts predict that Brookfield Asset Management will post 1.49 EPS 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. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 29th were paid 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 3.97%. This is a positive change from Brookfield Asset Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. Brookfield Asset Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 134.51%.

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.