Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (NYSE:BIP) Lifted to Hold 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 Sunday.

Separately, Cibc World Mkts upgraded Brookfield Infrastructure Partners to a strong-buy rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $37.56.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BIP opened at $32.97 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $15.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 106.35 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners has a 1-year low of $21.03 and a 1-year high of $33.83. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $31.36 and its 200 day moving average is $29.65.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (NYSE:BIP) (TSE:BIP.UN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported ($0.10) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by ($0.80). The firm had revenue of $5.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.91 billion. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners had a net margin of 0.82% and a return on equity of 0.51%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 20.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.72 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Brookfield Infrastructure Partners will post 3.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 30th will be given a $0.405 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 30th. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.91%. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners’s dividend payout ratio is currently 522.58%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Brookfield Infrastructure Partners

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in BIP. Principal Securities Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in the 4th quarter worth approximately $182,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its position in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 558,181.8% in the 4th quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 61,411 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,934,000 after buying an additional 61,400 shares during the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its position in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 17.7% in the 4th quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 15,233 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $480,000 after buying an additional 2,296 shares during the last quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in the 4th quarter worth approximately $205,000. Finally, Level Four Advisory Services LLC grew its position in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Level Four Advisory Services LLC now owns 9,328 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $294,000 after buying an additional 328 shares during the last quarter. 57.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.