Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (NYSE:BIP) Raised to Hold at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (NYSE:BIP) (TSE:BIP.UN) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Sunday morning.

Separately, Cibc World Mkts upgraded shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners to a strong-buy rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $37.56.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Stock Down 1.2 %

NYSE:BIP opened at $32.57 on Friday. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners has a fifty-two week low of $21.03 and a fifty-two week high of $33.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 105.06 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.81. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $31.42 and its 200-day simple moving average is $29.67.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (NYSE:BIP) (TSE:BIP.UN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported ($0.10) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by ($0.80). Brookfield Infrastructure Partners had a net margin of 0.82% and a return on equity of 0.51%. The firm had revenue of $5.14 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.91 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.72 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 20.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Brookfield Infrastructure Partners will post 3.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 30th will be given a dividend of $0.405 per share. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 30th. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners’s dividend payout ratio is presently 522.58%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Brookfield Infrastructure Partners

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Coronation Fund Managers Ltd. raised its position in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 52.9% during the 2nd quarter. Coronation Fund Managers Ltd. now owns 148,416 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,073,000 after buying an additional 51,378 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its position in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 16.0% during the 2nd quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 37,032 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,016,000 after buying an additional 5,108 shares during the last quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 3.4% during the 2nd quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 18,068 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $496,000 after buying an additional 591 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning raised its position in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 9.9% during the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 67,056 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,840,000 after buying an additional 6,024 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Select Equity Group L.P. raised its position in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 29.6% during the 2nd quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 4,202,842 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $115,326,000 after buying an additional 960,120 shares during the last quarter. 57.92% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.