Brookfield Renewable Partners (NYSE:BEP) Cut to “Sell” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com downgraded shares of Brookfield Renewable Partners (NYSE:BEP) (TSE:BEP) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note published on Tuesday morning.

BEP has been the topic of several other reports. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $31.00 price target on shares of Brookfield Renewable Partners in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. CIBC reduced their price target on Brookfield Renewable Partners from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “outperformer” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Brookfield Renewable Partners from $31.00 to $29.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Scotiabank boosted their price target on Brookfield Renewable Partners from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Brookfield Renewable Partners from $30.00 to $28.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $30.50.

Brookfield Renewable Partners Stock Performance

NYSE BEP opened at $22.86 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.52 billion, a P/E ratio of -25.68 and a beta of 0.95. Brookfield Renewable Partners has a 1-year low of $19.92 and a 1-year high of $29.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 0.25 and a quick ratio of 0.73. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $22.25 and its 200-day simple moving average is $24.48.

Brookfield Renewable Partners (NYSE:BEP) (TSE:BEP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 31st. The utilities provider reported ($0.06) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.22) by $0.16. Brookfield Renewable Partners had a negative return on equity of 0.03% and a negative net margin of 0.15%. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.01 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Brookfield Renewable Partners will post -1.04 EPS for the current year.

Brookfield Renewable 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 issued a $0.373 dividend. This represents a $1.49 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.53%. This is an increase from Brookfield Renewable Partners’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. Brookfield Renewable Partners’s payout ratio is -167.42%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Brookfield Renewable Partners

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Royal Bank of Canada increased its holdings in shares of Brookfield Renewable Partners by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 16,465,478 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $375,248,000 after acquiring an additional 211,467 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc increased its holdings in shares of Brookfield Renewable Partners by 23.8% in the 4th quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 8,472,170 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $192,605,000 after acquiring an additional 1,628,524 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Brookfield Renewable Partners by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 7,851,842 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $178,943,000 after acquiring an additional 246,163 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can increased its holdings in shares of Brookfield Renewable Partners by 4.7% in the 4th quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 7,059,557 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $160,585,000 after acquiring an additional 315,272 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cibc World Market Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Brookfield Renewable Partners by 4.4% in the 4th quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 2,751,587 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $62,647,000 after acquiring an additional 116,593 shares during the last quarter. 63.16% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Brookfield Renewable Partners Company Profile

Brookfield Renewable Partners L.P. owns a portfolio of renewable power generating facilities primarily in North America, Colombia, and Brazil. The company generates electricity through hydroelectric, wind, solar, distributed generation, and pumped storage, as well as renewable natural gas, carbon capture and storage, recycling, cogeneration biomass, nuclear services, and power transformation.