Brookfield Business Partners (NYSE:BBU) Shares Gap Down to $18.34

Brookfield Business Partners L.P. (NYSE:BBU) shares gapped down before the market opened on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $18.34, but opened at $17.53. Brookfield Business Partners shares last traded at $17.53, with a volume of 100 shares traded.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on BBU. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on Brookfield Business Partners from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 6th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Brookfield Business Partners from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, May 6th. TheStreet downgraded shares of Brookfield Business Partners from a “c” rating to a “d+” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. Finally, Cibc World Mkts raised Brookfield Business Partners to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 7th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $30.33.

Brookfield Business Partners Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.23, a current ratio of 1.10 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $18.91 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $20.29. The firm has a market cap of $1.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 1.45.

Brookfield Business Partners (NYSE:BBU) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 3rd. The business services provider reported $0.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.86 by ($0.63). Brookfield Business Partners had a net margin of 7.08% and a return on equity of 21.64%. The firm had revenue of $12.02 billion during the quarter. Equities research analysts forecast that Brookfield Business Partners L.P. will post 4.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Brookfield Business Partners Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Friday, May 31st were given a dividend of $0.0625 per share. This represents a $0.25 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 31st. Brookfield Business Partners’s dividend payout ratio is currently 3.92%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Brookfield Business Partners

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in BBU. K2 Principal Fund L.P. acquired a new position in shares of Brookfield Business Partners in the fourth quarter worth about $2,033,000. Partners Value Investments L.P. lifted its position in shares of Brookfield Business Partners by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Partners Value Investments L.P. now owns 2,941,062 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $60,527,000 after buying an additional 19,061 shares in the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC acquired a new stake in Brookfield Business Partners in the 3rd quarter valued at $476,000. TD Asset Management Inc raised its position in Brookfield Business Partners by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 160,426 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,328,000 after acquiring an additional 6,290 shares during the period. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted its holdings in Brookfield Business Partners by 1.5% during the third quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 8,779,849 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $133,455,000 after purchasing an additional 128,970 shares in the last quarter. 85.04% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Brookfield Business Partners

Brookfield Business Partners L.P. is a private equity firm specializing in acquisition. The firm typically invests in business services, infrastructure services, construction, energy, and industrials sector. It prefers to take majority stake in companies. The firm seeks returns of at least 15% on its investments.