Principal Financial Group Inc. Increases Holdings in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners LP (NYSE:BIP)

Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners LP (NYSE:BIP - Free Report) TSE: BIP.UN by 3.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 27,621,080 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 945,462 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 5.95% of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners worth $822,832,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Promus Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Larson Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Parallel Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in the first quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its stake in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 565.6% during the 1st quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,243 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $68,000 after buying an additional 1,906 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Analysts LLC raised its stake in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 85.8% in the fourth quarter. Capital Analysts LLC now owns 4,373 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $139,000 after acquiring an additional 2,020 shares in the last quarter. 57.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Stock Performance

NYSE BIP traded up $0.01 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $33.80. The company had a trading volume of 186,880 shares, compared to its average volume of 442,441. The company has a market cap of $15.70 billion, a PE ratio of -1,688.91 and a beta of 1.08. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners LP has a 1-year low of $25.72 and a 1-year high of $36.50. The business has a 50 day moving average of $32.51 and a 200-day moving average of $31.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 0.77.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (NYSE:BIP - Get Free Report) TSE: BIP.UN last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $5.39 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2 billion. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners had a return on equity of 1.04% and a net margin of 1.41%. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.78 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Brookfield Infrastructure Partners LP will post 3.45 EPS for the current year.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 30th were paid a dividend of $0.43 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 30th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.09%. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -8,600.00%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on BIP shares. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $40.00 target price on shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in a report on Tuesday, March 25th. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from $34.00 to $31.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Brookfield Infrastructure Partners has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $41.67.

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.