Brookfield Business Partners L.P. (NYSE:BBU) Receives Consensus Rating of “Buy” from Brokerages

Brookfield Business Partners L.P. (NYSE:BBU) has earned an average recommendation of “Buy” from the six ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $32.00.

Separately, BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Brookfield Business Partners from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th.

Institutional Trading of Brookfield Business Partners

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in BBU. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in Brookfield Business Partners during the 2nd quarter worth about $307,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 1,808 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can raised its position in shares of Brookfield Business Partners by 3.1% in the second quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 767,726 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $15,036,000 after buying an additional 22,886 shares during the last quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp lifted its stake in shares of Brookfield Business Partners by 12.7% during the second quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 681,562 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $12,910,000 after buying an additional 77,017 shares during the period. Finally, AYAL Capital Advisors Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Brookfield Business Partners by 97.4% during the second quarter. AYAL Capital Advisors Ltd now owns 45,000 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $848,000 after buying an additional 22,200 shares during the period. 85.04% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Brookfield Business Partners Stock Performance

Shares of BBU opened at $22.08 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $23.99 and its 200-day simple moving average is $22.14. Brookfield Business Partners has a 12-month low of $16.85 and a 12-month high of $26.75. The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.12. The firm has a market cap of $1.64 billion, a PE ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.50.

Brookfield Business Partners (NYSE:BBU) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 8th. The business services provider reported $1.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.00 by $0.39. Brookfield Business Partners had a return on equity of 30.68% and a net margin of 11.77%. The firm had revenue of $9.23 billion for the quarter. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.33 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Brookfield Business Partners will post 5.43 EPS for the current year.

Brookfield Business Partners Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 29th were issued a dividend of $0.063 per share. This represents a $0.25 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.14%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 29th. This is a boost from Brookfield Business Partners’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.06. Brookfield Business Partners’s dividend payout ratio is 3.09%.

Brookfield Business Partners Company Profile

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.