Short Interest in Brookfield Co. (NYSE:BN) Expands By 27.3%

Brookfield Co. (NYSE:BN) was the target of a large increase in short interest during the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 8,760,000 shares, an increase of 27.3% from the February 13th total of 6,880,000 shares. Currently, 0.7% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 2,460,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.6 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Brookfield

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp boosted its stake in Brookfield by 131.9% during the third quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 463,125 shares of the company’s stock worth $24,594,000 after acquiring an additional 263,375 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its stake in Brookfield by 5.7% during the third quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 183,698 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,764,000 after acquiring an additional 9,915 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Brookfield by 10.9% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,029,880 shares of the company’s stock worth $320,670,000 after acquiring an additional 591,757 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Brookfield by 10.9% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,564,317 shares of the company’s stock worth $189,507,000 after acquiring an additional 351,231 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Partners Group Holding AG boosted its stake in Brookfield by 53.5% during the third quarter. Partners Group Holding AG now owns 409,303 shares of the company’s stock worth $21,754,000 after acquiring an additional 142,603 shares in the last quarter. 61.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BN has been the subject of several research reports. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on shares of Brookfield in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $80.00 price objective for the company. CIBC increased their price objective on shares of Brookfield from $68.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “outperformer” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. TD Securities upped their price target on shares of Brookfield from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Scotiabank upped their price target on shares of Brookfield from $69.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $64.00.

Brookfield Trading Up 0.8 %

BN opened at $52.19 on Wednesday. Brookfield has a twelve month low of $38.18 and a twelve month high of $62.78. The company has a quick ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40. The company has a fifty day moving average of $57.28 and a 200-day moving average of $55.91. The stock has a market cap of $85.90 billion, a PE ratio of 173.96 and a beta of 1.65.

Brookfield (NYSE:BN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The company reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.13. Brookfield had a net margin of 0.75% and a return on equity of 3.93%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Brookfield will post 3.85 EPS for the current year.

Brookfield Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.09 per share. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Brookfield’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 120.00%.

About Brookfield

Brookfield Corporation is an alternative asset manager and REIT/Real Estate Investment Manager firm focuses on real estate, renewable power, infrastructure and venture capital and private equity assets. It manages a range of public and private investment products and services for institutional and retail clients.