Brookfield Infrastructure Partners’ (BIP) “Outperform” Rating Reiterated at Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada reiterated their outperform rating on shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (NYSE:BIP) (TSE:BIP.UN) in a research note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $40.00 price target on the utilities provider’s stock.

A number of other analysts also recently weighed in on BIP. Raymond James upped their target price on Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from $44.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. StockNews.com cut shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, TD Securities increased their price objective on shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from $49.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $42.20.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Price Performance

Shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners stock opened at $32.78 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -86.26 and a beta of 1.07. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners has a twelve month low of $24.84 and a twelve month high of $36.50. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $32.79 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $32.97.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (NYSE:BIP) (TSE:BIP.UN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.24 by $0.58. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners had a net margin of 0.03% and a return on equity of 0.02%. Analysts forecast that Brookfield Infrastructure Partners will post 3.09 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. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be issued a $0.43 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.25%. This is a boost from Brookfield Infrastructure Partners’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners’s dividend payout ratio is 4,300.00%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Brookfield Infrastructure Partners

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 2.2% during the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 73,734 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,023,000 after buying an additional 1,612 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning boosted its holdings in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 9.9% during the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 67,056 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,840,000 after acquiring an additional 6,024 shares in the last quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 3.4% during the 2nd quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 18,068 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $496,000 after acquiring an additional 591 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its holdings in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 16.0% in the 2nd quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 37,032 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,016,000 after purchasing an additional 5,108 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Value Partners Investments Inc. bought a new position in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in the third quarter valued at about $596,000. 57.92% of the stock is 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.