Raymond James Financial Inc. Invests $22.03 Million in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. (NYSE:BIP)

Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. (NYSE:BIP) (TSE:BIP.UN) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund purchased 693,090 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $22,033,000.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Promus Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in the 4th quarter worth about $5,306,000. Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC raised its position in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC now owns 710,827 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $22,597,000 after buying an additional 23,374 shares during the last quarter. Keybank National Association OH raised its position in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 37,523 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,193,000 after buying an additional 1,272 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its position in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 250.3% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 9,049 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $288,000 after buying an additional 6,466 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.92% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $40.00 target price on shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in a research report on Friday, January 31st. TD Securities boosted their target price on Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from $50.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Raymond James boosted their target price on Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from $44.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Scotiabank boosted their target price on Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $42.50.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Trading Up 1.8 %

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners stock opened at $28.01 on Friday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $31.80 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $33.04. The company has a market cap of $13.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 700.48 and a beta of 1.10. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. has a 52-week low of $24.84 and a 52-week high of $36.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.72.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (NYSE:BIP) (TSE:BIP.UN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.24 by $0.58. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners had a return on equity of 1.17% and a net margin of 1.64%. Analysts predict that Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. will post 3.45 EPS for the current year.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.43 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. This is an increase from Brookfield Infrastructure Partners’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.14%. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners’s payout ratio is 4,300.00%.

About Brookfield Infrastructure Partners

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. owns and operates utilities, transport, midstream, and data businesses in North and South America, Europe, and the Asia Pacific. The company's Utilities segment operates approximately 2,900 km of electricity transmission lines; 4,200 km of natural gas pipelines; 8.1 million electricity and natural gas connections; and 0.6 million long-term contracted sub-metering services.