Brookfield Asset Management Ltd. (NYSE:BAM) Sees Significant Drop in Short Interest

Brookfield Asset Management Ltd. (NYSE:BAM) (TSE:BAM.A) saw a large decline in short interest in the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 7,280,000 shares, a decline of 10.6% from the November 30th total of 8,140,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 988,900 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 7.4 days. Currently, 5.3% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on BAM shares. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Brookfield Asset Management from $40.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Brookfield Asset Management from $55.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. TD Securities increased their target price on Brookfield Asset Management from $61.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on Brookfield Asset Management from $49.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Scotiabank upped their price target on Brookfield Asset Management from $55.50 to $59.50 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $54.54.

Institutional Trading of Brookfield Asset Management

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in Brookfield Asset Management in the third quarter valued at $209,000. Morse Asset Management Inc acquired a new position in shares of Brookfield Asset Management during the 3rd quarter worth about $176,000. Toronto Dominion Bank grew its holdings in shares of Brookfield Asset Management by 7.7% in the 3rd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 1,056,919 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $49,982,000 after acquiring an additional 75,963 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Brookfield Asset Management by 11.6% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,611,859 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $77,293,000 after acquiring an additional 168,170 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Continuum Advisory LLC raised its holdings in Brookfield Asset Management by 42.2% during the third quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 1,109 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $52,000 after acquiring an additional 329 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.41% of the company’s stock.

Brookfield Asset Management Stock Performance

NYSE BAM traded down $0.40 on Wednesday, reaching $54.19. The company had a trading volume of 462,784 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,213,455. The company’s fifty day moving average is $55.83 and its 200-day moving average is $47.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.41. Brookfield Asset Management has a 1-year low of $37.19 and a 1-year high of $59.58.

Brookfield Asset Management (NYSE:BAM) (TSE:BAM.A) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The financial services provider reported $0.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.02. Brookfield Asset Management had a return on equity of 85.03% and a net margin of 49.69%. The company had revenue of $1.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.19 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.35 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Brookfield Asset Management will post 1.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Brookfield Asset Management Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th were issued a $0.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 29th. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.80%. 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.