Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. (NYSE:BIP) Receives Consensus Rating of "Buy" from Analysts

Shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. (NYSE:BIP - Get Free Report) TSE: BIP.UN have been assigned a consensus rating of "Buy" from the seven research firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Five research 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 target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $42.50.

A number of research analysts have weighed in on BIP shares. Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $40.00 price target on shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. TD Securities boosted their target price on shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from $50.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, February 1st. Raymond James boosted their price objective on shares of 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. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their price target on Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Trading Down 0.3 %

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners stock traded down $0.10 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $28.83. 489,843 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 445,023. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 720.93 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.72, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.08. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners has a fifty-two week low of $25.72 and a fifty-two week high of $36.50. The firm's 50 day moving average is $29.46 and its 200-day moving average is $32.10.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (NYSE:BIP - Get Free Report) TSE: BIP.UN last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.24 by $0.58. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners had a net margin of 1.64% and a return on equity of 1.17%. On average, analysts predict that Brookfield Infrastructure Partners will post 3.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th were paid a $0.43 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. This is an increase from Brookfield Infrastructure Partners's previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.97%. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 4,300.00%.

Institutional Trading of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of BIP. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 12.0% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 26,675,618 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $848,018,000 after buying an additional 2,866,195 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners during the 4th quarter worth $22,033,000. Guardian Capital LP bought a new position in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners during the fourth quarter valued at about $21,099,000. Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its holdings in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 8.0% during the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 8,784,509 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $278,858,000 after buying an additional 650,892 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Intact Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 52.1% in the fourth quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,745,974 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $55,477,000 after acquiring an additional 598,290 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.92% of the company's stock.

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.