Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (NYSE:BIP) Upgraded 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 released on Saturday morning.

BIP has been the topic of several other research reports. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $40.00 price objective on shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in a report on Friday. Raymond James upped their price objective on Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from $44.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, TD Securities increased their price target on Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from $49.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $42.80.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Stock Down 2.4 %

Shares of BIP opened at $32.04 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $14.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 801.10 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.72, a current ratio of 0.08 and a quick ratio of 0.72. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners has a one year low of $24.84 and a one year high of $36.50. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $32.79 and its 200-day simple moving average is $32.97.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (NYSE:BIP) (TSE:BIP.UN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.24 by $0.58. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners had a return on equity of 1.17% and a net margin of 1.64%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Brookfield Infrastructure Partners will post 3.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.43 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. This is a boost from Brookfield Infrastructure Partners’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.37%. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 4,051.01%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners during the third quarter worth approximately $26,000. Dunhill Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners during the third quarter worth approximately $30,000. Compass Planning Associates Inc bought a new position in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners during the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. Wingate Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, Stonebridge Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $44,000. 57.92% of the stock is owned by 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.