Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. (NYSE:BIP) Short Interest Up 6.0% in September

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. (NYSE:BIP) (TSE:BIP.UN) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 1,780,000 shares, a growth of 6.0% from the September 15th total of 1,680,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 367,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.8 days.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Trading Up 1.8 %

Shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners stock opened at $36.42 on Friday. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners has a 12-month low of $21.03 and a 12-month high of $36.49. The stock has a market cap of $16.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 117.48 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58. The business’s 50 day moving average is $32.93 and its 200-day moving average is $30.35.

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

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Investors of record on Friday, August 30th were issued a dividend of $0.405 per share. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.45%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 30th. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners’s payout ratio is presently 522.58%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Capital World Investors increased its holdings in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 8.9% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 38,365,956 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,198,095,000 after acquiring an additional 3,141,038 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 7.1% during the 2nd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 23,193,050 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $636,417,000 after acquiring an additional 1,540,223 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its holdings in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 4.4% during the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 6,147,654 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $168,680,000 after acquiring an additional 257,587 shares during the last quarter. CCLA Investment Management increased its holdings in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 35.0% during the 2nd quarter. CCLA Investment Management now owns 4,341,905 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $119,180,000 after acquiring an additional 1,125,964 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Select Equity Group L.P. increased its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 960,120 shares during the last quarter. 57.92% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on BIP. StockNews.com upgraded Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, September 15th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from $35.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Cibc World Mkts upgraded Brookfield Infrastructure Partners to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Brookfield Infrastructure Partners has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $38.50.

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.