Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. (NYSE:BIP) Short Interest Up 27.8% in May

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. (NYSE:BIP) (TSE:BIP.UN) saw a significant increase in short interest in May. As of May 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,020,000 shares, an increase of 27.8% from the April 30th total of 1,580,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 519,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.9 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Brookfield Infrastructure Partners

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Triasima Portfolio Management inc. bought a new position in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners during the fourth quarter worth about $12,322,000. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. acquired a new position in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $205,000. Dixon Mitchell Investment Counsel Inc. increased its position in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 71.2% during the fourth quarter. Dixon Mitchell Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 765,686 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $24,266,000 after acquiring an additional 318,398 shares in the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 11.0% during the fourth quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 385,416 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $12,137,000 after acquiring an additional 38,216 shares during the period. Finally, AGF Management Ltd. lifted its position in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 24.3% in the 4th quarter. AGF Management Ltd. now owns 2,964,836 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $93,438,000 after acquiring an additional 578,966 shares in the last quarter. 57.92% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Price Performance

Shares of BIP stock traded up $0.44 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $28.89. The company had a trading volume of 306,941 shares, compared to its average volume of 412,120. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners has a 1-year low of $21.03 and a 1-year high of $37.32. The firm has a market cap of $13.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 93.23 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a 50 day moving average of $28.87 and a 200 day moving average of $29.45.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (NYSE:BIP) (TSE:BIP.UN) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.10 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.78 by ($0.68). The company had revenue of $5.19 billion during the quarter. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners had a net margin of 2.05% and a return on equity of 1.23%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Brookfield Infrastructure Partners will post 3.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 31st will be issued a $0.405 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 31st. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.61%. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 522.58%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from $37.00 to $34.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from $40.00 to $36.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. TD Securities lowered their price objective on shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from $47.00 to $46.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Raymond James boosted their target price on shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $38.20.

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.