Brokerages Set Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. (NYSE:BIP) Price Target at $42.80

Shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. (NYSE:BIP) (TSE:BIP.UN) have earned a consensus rating of “Buy” from the six ratings firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $42.80.

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 1st. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $40.00 price target on shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in a report on Friday, January 31st. TD Securities upped 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. Finally, Raymond James lifted their target price on Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from $44.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Brookfield Infrastructure Partners

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 12.0% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 26,675,618 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $848,018,000 after purchasing an additional 2,866,195 shares during the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank lifted its stake in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 24.6% during the 3rd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 4,003,231 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $140,273,000 after buying an additional 790,078 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its stake in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 5.4% during the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 2,550,270 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $89,362,000 after buying an additional 130,371 shares in the last quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 52.1% in the 4th quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,745,974 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $55,477,000 after buying an additional 598,290 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dixon Mitchell Investment Counsel Inc. grew its stake in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 101.0% in the 3rd quarter. Dixon Mitchell Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 1,587,548 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $55,783,000 after buying an additional 797,649 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.92% of the company’s stock.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners stock opened at $33.35 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $15.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 833.96 and a beta of 1.08. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $32.55 and a 200 day simple moving average of $33.04. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners has a 12-month low of $24.84 and a 12-month high of $36.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.72.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (NYSE:BIP) (TSE:BIP.UN) last posted its earnings results 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 net margin of 1.64% and a return on equity of 1.17%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Brookfield Infrastructure Partners will post 3.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a dividend of $0.43 per share. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.16%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. This is a boost from Brookfield Infrastructure Partners’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.