Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. (NYSE:BIP) Receives $42.50 Consensus PT from Brokerages

Shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. (NYSE:BIP) (TSE:BIP.UN) have received a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the seven brokerages that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy recommendation and two have given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $42.50.

Several research analysts have commented on BIP shares. TD Securities raised their target price on Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from $50.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 1st. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $40.00 target price on shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in a report on Tuesday, March 25th. Raymond James raised their price target on shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from $44.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their price target on shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Stock Performance

Shares of BIP stock opened at $29.70 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $31.33 and its 200 day moving average is $32.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 742.74 and a beta of 1.10. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners has a 12 month low of $24.84 and a 12 month high of $36.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.72.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (NYSE:BIP) (TSE:BIP.UN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, topping 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%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Brookfield Infrastructure Partners will post 3.45 earnings per share 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. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be issued a $0.43 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.79%. This is an increase from Brookfield Infrastructure Partners’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners’s payout ratio is currently 4,300.00%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Brookfield Infrastructure Partners

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Citigroup Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 159.5% during the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 175,434 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $6,147,000 after purchasing an additional 107,821 shares during the period. Addenda Capital Inc. raised its holdings in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 129.5% during the 4th quarter. Addenda Capital Inc. now owns 680,481 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $21,632,000 after buying an additional 384,000 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its position in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 87.1% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 24,090 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $844,000 after buying an additional 11,217 shares during the period. Cidel Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in the 4th quarter worth $272,000. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI increased its position in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 5.4% in the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 2,550,270 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $89,362,000 after acquiring an additional 130,371 shares during the period. 57.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.