Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. (NYSE:BIP) Given Consensus Rating of “Buy” by Brokerages

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. (NYSE:BIP) (TSE:BIP.UN) has been given a consensus rating of “Buy” by the seven analysts that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a buy recommendation and two have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $42.50.

Several brokerages recently issued reports on BIP. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $40.00 price target on shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in a report on Friday, January 31st. Scotiabank lifted their target price on shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. StockNews.com upgraded Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 1st. TD Securities raised their price target on Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from $50.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Raymond James boosted their price objective on Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from $44.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Brookfield Infrastructure Partners

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in BIP. Promus Capital LLC bought a new position in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Compass Planning Associates Inc bought a new position in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Dunhill Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. Larson Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners during the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, Wingate Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Institutional investors own 57.92% of the company’s stock.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Trading Down 0.7 %

BIP stock opened at $28.65 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.72. The firm has a market cap of $13.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 716.33 and a beta of 1.10. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners has a 1-year low of $24.84 and a 1-year high of $36.50. The business’s 50 day moving average is $32.17 and its 200-day moving average is $33.21.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (NYSE:BIP) (TSE:BIP.UN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.24 by $0.58. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners had a return on equity of 1.17% and a net margin of 1.64%. Equities analysts anticipate that Brookfield Infrastructure Partners will post 3.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a $0.43 dividend. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.00%. This is a positive change from Brookfield Infrastructure Partners’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 4,300.00%.

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.