Park Avenue Securities LLC Raises Stake in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. (NYSE:BIP)

Park Avenue Securities LLC grew its holdings in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. (NYSE:BIP) (TSE:BIP.UN) by 22.8% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 10,450 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,939 shares during the quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC’s holdings in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners were worth $326,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 22.1% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 19,951,240 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $628,265,000 after purchasing an additional 3,613,608 shares during the period. 1832 Asset Management L.P. lifted its stake in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 9.6% in the 4th quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 19,209,097 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $604,894,000 after acquiring an additional 1,678,140 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its holdings in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 8.3% during the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 17,876,978 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $525,947,000 after acquiring an additional 1,362,482 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its position in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 28.2% during the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 7,118,909 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $224,468,000 after acquiring an additional 1,565,246 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc increased its stake in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 20.0% in the 4th quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 6,681,918 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $211,259,000 after purchasing an additional 1,112,217 shares during the period. 57.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Stock Performance

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners stock opened at $27.44 on Monday. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. has a fifty-two week low of $21.03 and a fifty-two week high of $37.15. The stock has a market cap of $12.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 88.52 and a beta of 1.04. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $28.74 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $29.58.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (NYSE:BIP) (TSE:BIP.UN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.10 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.78 by ($0.68). The firm had revenue of $5.19 billion for the quarter. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners had a net margin of 2.05% and a return on equity of 1.23%. On average, analysts predict that Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. will post 3.23 earnings per share for the current year.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Friday, May 31st were given a dividend of $0.405 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 31st. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.90%. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 522.58%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on BIP. StockNews.com lowered Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, June 7th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from $37.00 to $34.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from $40.00 to $36.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Brookfield Infrastructure Partners has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $38.20.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Company 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.