Mufg Securities Canada LTD. Raises Position in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. (NYSE:BIP)

Mufg Securities Canada LTD. boosted its position in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. (NYSE:BIP) (TSE:BIP.UN) by 72.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 704,968 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 295,232 shares during the period. Mufg Securities Canada LTD. owned 0.15% of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners worth $22,388,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Promus Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners during the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. Dunhill Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners during the third quarter worth $30,000. Compass Planning Associates Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Larson Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, Wingate Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners during the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.92% of the company’s stock.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Stock Performance

Shares of BIP stock opened at $30.14 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.72, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.08. The firm has a market cap of $13.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 753.69 and a beta of 1.10. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. has a one year low of $24.84 and a one year high of $36.50. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $31.40 and its 200-day moving average price is $32.93.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (NYSE:BIP) (TSE:BIP.UN) last issued its quarterly 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%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. will post 3.45 EPS for the current year.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th will be issued a $0.43 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. This is a positive change from Brookfield Infrastructure Partners’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.71%. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 4,300.00%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on BIP. Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Raymond James lifted their price objective on Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from $44.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. TD Securities upped their target price on Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from $50.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. 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 Tuesday. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Brookfield Infrastructure Partners currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $42.50.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Profile

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.