Traders Purchase High Volume of Put Options on Brookfield Asset Management (NYSE:BAM)

Brookfield Asset Management Ltd. (NYSE:BAM - Get Free Report) TSE: BAM.A was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Thursday. Investors bought 6,924 put options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 751% compared to the average volume of 814 put options.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its position 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 purchasing an additional 30,996,329 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Brookfield Asset Management during the 4th quarter worth about $239,421,000. FIL Ltd increased its position in Brookfield Asset Management by 66.1% during the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 11,314,071 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $454,424,000 after purchasing an additional 4,501,410 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in Brookfield Asset Management by 166.2% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 7,051,145 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $398,883,000 after purchasing an additional 4,402,115 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Beutel Goodman & Co Ltd. increased its position in Brookfield Asset Management by 114.5% during the 4th quarter. Beutel Goodman & Co Ltd. now owns 6,922,224 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $279,387,000 after purchasing an additional 3,695,774 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.41% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have commented on BAM shares. TD Securities reduced their target price on Brookfield Asset Management from $52.00 to $49.00 and set an "action list buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 9th. CIBC upped their target price on shares of Brookfield Asset Management from $40.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. HSBC lowered shares of Brookfield Asset Management from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Brookfield Asset Management from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Brookfield Asset Management from $49.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $42.20.

Brookfield Asset Management Price Performance

Shares of BAM traded down $0.61 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $38.42. 1,946,359 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,159,016. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.87 billion, a PE ratio of 34.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 1.68. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $41.03 and its 200-day simple moving average is $37.47. Brookfield Asset Management has a 52-week low of $28.35 and a 52-week high of $43.00.

Brookfield Asset Management (NYSE:BAM - Get Free Report) TSE: BAM.A last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The financial services provider reported $0.36 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 last year, the business posted $0.31 EPS. Equities research analysts predict 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.96%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 28th. This is an increase from Brookfield Asset Management's previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. Brookfield Asset Management's payout ratio is 134.51%.

About Brookfield Asset Management

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.