Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. (NYSE:BIP) to Issue Dividend Increase – $0.43 Per Share

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. (NYSE:BIP) (TSE:BIP.UN) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, January 30th, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a dividend of 0.43 per share by the utilities provider on Monday, March 31st. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.31%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. This is a positive change from Brookfield Infrastructure Partners’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners has increased its dividend by an average of 6.0% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 18 consecutive years. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners has a dividend payout ratio of 125.5% indicating that the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Equities analysts expect Brookfield Infrastructure Partners to earn $3.80 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.72 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 45.3%.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Stock Down 1.2 %

Shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners stock opened at $32.42 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.72. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners has a 12-month low of $24.84 and a 12-month high of $36.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.05 billion, a PE ratio of 810.70 and a beta of 1.08. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $32.34 and its 200-day moving average is $33.24.

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%. Equities analysts anticipate that Brookfield Infrastructure Partners will post 3.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on BIP shares. TD Securities raised their price objective on shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from $50.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $40.00 target price on shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in a report on Friday, January 31st. Raymond James lifted their price target on Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from $44.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. StockNews.com raised Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 1st. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their target price on Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $42.50.

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.