Analysts Set Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. (NYSE:BIP) Price Target at $37.56

Shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. (NYSE:BIP) (TSE:BIP.UN) have received a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the ten brokerages that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, six have given a buy recommendation and two have given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $37.56.

BIP has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Cibc World Mkts raised shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, September 7th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Brookfield Infrastructure Partners

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of BIP. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners during the fourth quarter worth about $1,946,000. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. acquired a new stake in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Principal Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners during the fourth quarter valued at about $182,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its position in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 558,181.8% during the fourth quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 61,411 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,934,000 after acquiring an additional 61,400 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its position in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 17.7% during the fourth quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 15,233 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $480,000 after acquiring an additional 2,296 shares during the last quarter. 57.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BIP opened at $32.00 on Monday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $30.90 and its 200 day moving average price is $29.49. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners has a 1 year low of $21.03 and a 1 year high of $33.23. The company has a market capitalization of $14.84 billion, a PE ratio of 103.23 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.81.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (NYSE:BIP) (TSE:BIP.UN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported ($0.10) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by ($0.80). The firm had revenue of $5.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.91 billion. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners had a return on equity of 0.51% and a net margin of 0.82%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 20.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.72 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Brookfield Infrastructure Partners will post 3.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Investors of record on Friday, August 30th will be given a dividend of $0.405 per share. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.06%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 30th. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners’s payout ratio is currently 522.58%.

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.