Bank of Nova Scotia Decreases Holdings in Brookfield Asset Management Ltd. (NYSE:BAM)

Bank of Nova Scotia lowered its holdings in shares of Brookfield Asset Management Ltd. (NYSE:BAM) (TSE:BAM.A) by 21.7% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 2,241,920 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 621,188 shares during the quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia’s holdings in Brookfield Asset Management were worth $121,547,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Brookfield Asset Management by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 19,646,285 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,064,983,000 after buying an additional 447,642 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Brookfield Asset Management by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,901,942 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $916,676,000 after acquiring an additional 263,660 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Brookfield Asset Management by 8.9% in the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc. now owns 16,664,426 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $903,323,000 after purchasing an additional 1,359,126 shares during the period. FIL Ltd increased its stake in Brookfield Asset Management by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 15,369,816 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $833,581,000 after purchasing an additional 574,978 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can lifted its position in Brookfield Asset Management by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 9,575,446 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $518,655,000 after purchasing an additional 339,072 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Brookfield Asset Management from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. HSBC raised shares of Brookfield Asset Management from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. StockNews.com cut Brookfield Asset Management from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday. Scotiabank lowered their price target on Brookfield Asset Management from $62.50 to $58.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Finally, TD Securities lifted their price objective on Brookfield Asset Management from $64.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $57.67.

Brookfield Asset Management Trading Down 1.9 %

Shares of BAM stock opened at $43.39 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $53.57 and its 200-day moving average price is $53.72. The stock has a market cap of $71.04 billion, a PE ratio of 32.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.63. Brookfield Asset Management Ltd. has a 12 month low of $37.29 and a 12 month high of $62.61.

Brookfield Asset Management (NYSE:BAM) (TSE:BAM.A) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The financial services provider reported $0.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39 by $0.01. Brookfield Asset Management had a net margin of 54.47% and a return on equity of 81.16%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Brookfield Asset Management Ltd. will post 1.7 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 Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th were given a dividend of $0.4375 per share. This represents a $1.75 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.03%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. This is a positive change from Brookfield Asset Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. Brookfield Asset Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 132.58%.

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.