Brookfield Infrastructure Partners LP (NYSE:BIP) Given Average Rating of "Buy" by Analysts

Key Points

• Brookfield Infrastructure Partners LP has received an average recommendation of "Buy" from six analysts, with a consensus price target of $41.67.
• Recent commentary from research firms includes Citigroup lowering its price target from $34.00 to $31.00 and Wall Street Zen upgrading the stock from a "sell" to a "hold" rating.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.43 per share, yielding approximately 5.6%, with a payout ratio currently at a very high level of 3,440.00%.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners LP (NYSE:BIP - Get Free Report) TSE: BIP.UN has been assigned an average rating of "Buy" from the six research firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $41.00.

BIP has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in a report on Friday. They issued a "buy" rating and a $35.00 target price on the stock. Wall Street Zen raised Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, August 2nd. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $40.00 target price on Brookfield Infrastructure Partners and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Citigroup decreased their target price on Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from $34.00 to $31.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 1st.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Stock Performance

Shares of BIP stock traded down $0.37 on Monday, reaching $31.45. The stock had a trading volume of 529,459 shares, compared to its average volume of 548,727. The stock has a market cap of $14.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 629.03 and a beta of 1.09. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners has a 1 year low of $25.72 and a 1 year high of $36.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.88. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $31.82 and a 200 day simple moving average of $31.20.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (NYSE:BIP - Get Free Report) TSE: BIP.UN last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.82 by ($0.01). Brookfield Infrastructure Partners had a return on equity of 1.15% and a net margin of 1.54%.The firm had revenue of $5.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.95 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.77 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Brookfield Infrastructure Partners will post 3.45 EPS for the current year.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 29th will be issued a dividend of $0.43 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 29th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.5%. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 3,440.00%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Brookfield Infrastructure Partners

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of BIP. CCLA Investment Management raised its holdings in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 33.5% during the first quarter. CCLA Investment Management now owns 5,795,677 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $172,537,000 after acquiring an additional 1,453,772 shares during the period. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp raised its holdings in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 713.3% during the first quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 1,655,916 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $49,270,000 after acquiring an additional 1,452,320 shares during the period. Picton Mahoney Asset Management bought a new stake in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners during the second quarter valued at about $46,203,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 3.5% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 27,621,080 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $822,832,000 after acquiring an additional 945,462 shares during the period. Finally, SCS Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners during the first quarter valued at about $24,786,000. 57.92% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Company Profile

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.