Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. (NYSE:BIP) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. (NYSE:BIP) (TSE:BIP.UN) has received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the ten research firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, seven have issued a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $38.20.

BIP has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. StockNews.com lowered shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, June 7th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from $37.00 to $34.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from $40.00 to $36.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Brookfield Infrastructure Partners

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel Ltd. now owns 417,307 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $11,451,000 after acquiring an additional 3,090 shares during the last quarter. Harbor Advisory Corp MA increased its stake in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 0.5% in the second quarter. Harbor Advisory Corp MA now owns 253,135 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,946,000 after buying an additional 1,142 shares during the period. Tranquility Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 15.8% in the second quarter. Tranquility Partners LLC now owns 79,167 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,172,000 after buying an additional 10,806 shares during the period. Nexus Investment Management ULC increased its stake in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 8.8% in the second quarter. Nexus Investment Management ULC now owns 1,220,204 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $33,497,000 after buying an additional 98,269 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James & Associates increased its stake in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 2.2% in the second quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 573,801 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $15,745,000 after buying an additional 12,207 shares during the period. 57.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Trading Up 1.4 %

BIP stock opened at $31.36 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $29.06 and a 200-day moving average of $29.44. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners has a 12 month low of $21.03 and a 12 month high of $36.02. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 101.16 and a beta of 1.03.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (NYSE:BIP) (TSE:BIP.UN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.10 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by ($0.68). Brookfield Infrastructure Partners had a net margin of 2.05% and a return on equity of 1.23%. The firm had revenue of $5.19 billion during the quarter. Sell-side analysts predict that Brookfield Infrastructure Partners will post 3.23 EPS for the current year.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 31st were issued a $0.405 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 31st. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.17%. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners’s payout ratio is 522.58%.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Company Profile

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.