Brookfield Business Partners (NYSE:BBU) Sees Strong Trading Volume – Here’s Why

Shares of Brookfield Business Partners L.P. (NYSE:BBU) saw unusually-strong trading volume on Thursday . Approximately 25,728 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 81% from the previous session’s volume of 14,192 shares.The stock last traded at $21.92 and had previously closed at $21.95.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on BBU. Scotiabank increased their price target on Brookfield Business Partners from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Brookfield Business Partners from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Brookfield Business Partners presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $32.80.

Brookfield Business Partners Stock Up 0.9 %

The company has a market cap of $1.61 billion, a PE ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.12. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $23.36 and a 200-day moving average of $22.32.

Brookfield Business Partners (NYSE:BBU) last issued its earnings results on Friday, November 8th. The business services provider reported $1.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.00 by $0.39. The business had revenue of $9.23 billion during the quarter. Brookfield Business Partners had a return on equity of 30.68% and a net margin of 11.77%. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.33 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Brookfield Business Partners L.P. will post 5.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Brookfield Business Partners Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th were paid a dividend of $0.063 per share. This is a positive change from Brookfield Business Partners’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.06. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 29th. This represents a $0.25 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.16%. Brookfield Business Partners’s payout ratio is presently 3.09%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its holdings in Brookfield Business Partners by 1.5% in the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 40,726 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $770,000 after purchasing an additional 608 shares in the last quarter. Tandem Capital Management Corp ADV boosted its holdings in Brookfield Business Partners by 24.5% in the third quarter. Tandem Capital Management Corp ADV now owns 40,281 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $890,000 after purchasing an additional 7,939 shares during the last quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Brookfield Business Partners during the 3rd quarter valued at $45,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Brookfield Business Partners by 29.9% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 117,189 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,731,000 after acquiring an additional 26,947 shares during the period. Finally, Gold Investment Management Ltd. increased its position in Brookfield Business Partners by 7.4% during the third quarter. Gold Investment Management Ltd. now owns 31,501 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $739,000 after acquiring an additional 2,169 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.04% of the company’s stock.

About Brookfield Business Partners

Brookfield Business Partners L.P. is a private equity firm specializing in acquisition. The firm typically invests in business services, infrastructure services, construction, energy, and industrials sector. It prefers to take majority stake in companies. The firm seeks returns of at least 15% on its investments.