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

Brookfield Asset Management Ltd. (NYSE:BAM) (TSE:BAM.A) saw some unusual options trading on Thursday. Investors bought 6,924 put options on the company. This is an increase of 751% compared to the typical volume of 814 put options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on BAM shares. HSBC cut shares of Brookfield Asset Management from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on 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 raised their price target on Brookfield Asset Management from $49.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 8th. TD Securities dropped their target price on 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. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their target price on Brookfield Asset Management from $46.50 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Brookfield Asset Management presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $42.20.

Brookfield Asset Management Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BAM opened at $38.32 on Friday. Brookfield Asset Management has a 52 week low of $28.35 and a 52 week high of $43.00. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $40.99 and its 200 day moving average is $37.52. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.91, a PEG ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.68.

Brookfield Asset Management (NYSE:BAM) (TSE:BAM.A) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The financial services provider reported $0.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.02. Brookfield Asset Management had a return on equity of 96.43% and a net margin of 50.23%. The firm had revenue of $1.13 billion for the quarter. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.31 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Brookfield Asset Management will post 1.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Brookfield Asset Management Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 29th were paid a dividend of $0.38 per share. 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 28th. Brookfield Asset Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 134.51%.

Institutional Trading of Brookfield Asset Management

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in BAM. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in Brookfield Asset Management by 127.8% in the fourth 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 period. America First Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Brookfield Asset Management by 107.3% in the third 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 period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Brookfield Asset Management by 1.2% in the third 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 period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Brookfield Asset Management by 55.5% in the third 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 period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in Brookfield Asset Management by 0.7% in the third 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 period. 68.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.