Wulff Hansen & CO. Reduces Stock Position in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. (NYSE:BIP)

Wulff Hansen & CO. decreased its holdings in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. (NYSE:BIP) (TSE:BIP.UN) by 0.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 57,642 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 420 shares during the quarter. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners makes up approximately 1.7% of Wulff Hansen & CO.’s holdings, making the stock its 17th largest holding. Wulff Hansen & CO.’s holdings in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners were worth $1,832,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Promus Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new stake in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Dunhill Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. Larson Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, Wingate Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.92% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Stock Performance

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners stock opened at $28.68 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $31.65 and its 200 day moving average price is $33.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.31 billion, a PE ratio of 717.18 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.72, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.08. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. has a one year low of $24.84 and a one year high of $36.50.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (NYSE:BIP) (TSE:BIP.UN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 expect that Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a $0.43 dividend. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.00%. This is a positive change from Brookfield Infrastructure Partners’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners’s dividend payout ratio is presently 4,300.00%.

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.