BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp Buys 77,017 Shares of Brookfield Business Partners L.P. (NYSE:BBU)

BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp boosted its stake in shares of Brookfield Business Partners L.P. (NYSE:BBU) by 12.7% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 681,562 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 77,017 shares during the quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp owned about 0.92% of Brookfield Business Partners worth $12,910,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its position in Brookfield Business Partners by 3.1% during the second quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 767,726 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $15,036,000 after purchasing an additional 22,886 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in Brookfield Business Partners by 2.0% during the second quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 90,242 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,701,000 after purchasing an additional 1,808 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in Brookfield Business Partners during the second quarter worth approximately $307,000. K2 Principal Fund L.P. boosted its position in Brookfield Business Partners by 58.3% during the first quarter. K2 Principal Fund L.P. now owns 156,353 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,455,000 after purchasing an additional 57,553 shares during the period. Finally, Triasima Portfolio Management inc. bought a new stake in Brookfield Business Partners during the first quarter worth approximately $1,405,000. Institutional investors own 85.04% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $32.00 target price on shares of Brookfield Business Partners in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $31.40.

Brookfield Business Partners Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BBU opened at $23.42 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $20.39 and a 200 day simple moving average of $19.88. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.67 and a beta of 1.45. Brookfield Business Partners L.P. has a one year low of $12.22 and a one year high of $23.75.

Brookfield Business Partners (NYSE:BBU) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 2nd. The business services provider reported ($0.09) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.86 by ($0.95). Brookfield Business Partners had a return on equity of 21.76% and a net margin of 7.34%. The company had revenue of $11.95 billion for the quarter. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.85 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Brookfield Business Partners L.P. will post 4.52 EPS for the current year.

Brookfield Business Partners Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Investors of record on Friday, August 30th will be issued a $0.0625 dividend. This represents a $0.25 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.07%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 30th. Brookfield Business Partners’s dividend payout ratio is 3.92%.

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.