Cannell & Spears LLC Sells 26,901 Shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners LP $BIP

Key Points

• Cannell & Spears LLC reduced its Brookfield Infrastructure Partners stake by 13.9% in the first quarter, selling 26,901 shares and leaving it with 166,648 shares worth about $5.99 million.
• Several other institutional investors also adjusted positions in BIP, while institutional ownership overall remains high at 57.92%. Meanwhile, CFO David Tyler Krant bought 1,150 shares, boosting his ownership by 115%.
• Analysts remain generally constructive: the stock has a Moderate Buy consensus rating with an average price target of $44.88, and the company recently beat earnings estimates, reporting $0.90 EPS versus $0.28 expected.

Cannell & Spears LLC cut its position in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners LP (NYSE:BIP - Free Report) TSE: BIP.UN by 13.9% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 166,648 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 26,901 shares during the period. Cannell & Spears LLC's holdings in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners were worth $5,992,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. State of Wisconsin Investment Board boosted its stake in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 212.4% during the 4th quarter. State of Wisconsin Investment Board now owns 2,592,339 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $90,058,000 after acquiring an additional 1,762,436 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 68.4% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 3,243,218 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $112,669,000 after purchasing an additional 1,317,669 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley increased its holdings in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 61.4% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,343,528 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $116,154,000 after purchasing an additional 1,271,823 shares during the last quarter. Lincluden Management Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in the fourth quarter valued at $22,343,000. Finally, Bank of Nova Scotia raised its position in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 28.0% in the first quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 2,812,022 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $101,409,000 after purchasing an additional 614,531 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 57.92% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Brookfield Infrastructure Partners

In related news, CFO David Tyler Krant acquired 1,150 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 1st. The stock was acquired at an average price of $48.10 per share, with a total value of $55,315.00. Following the purchase, the chief financial officer directly owned 2,150 shares in the company, valued at approximately $103,415. This trade represents a 115.00% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on BIP. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $45.00 target price (up from $44.00) on shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. National Bank Financial upped their target price on Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from $38.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, June 1st. Weiss Ratings lowered Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "hold (c-)" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. Morgan Stanley reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $48.00 price target on shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Saturday. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $44.88.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Stock Performance

NYSE BIP opened at $40.96 on Friday. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $38.26 and its 200 day simple moving average is $37.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 62.06 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a current ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners LP has a 1 year low of $29.63 and a 1 year high of $41.65.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (NYSE:BIP - Get Free Report) TSE: BIP.UN last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The utilities provider reported $0.90 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.28 by $0.62. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners had a return on equity of 2.54% and a net margin of 3.46%.The firm had revenue of $6.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.13 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.82 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Brookfield Infrastructure Partners LP will post 3.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 29th were paid a $0.455 dividend. This represents a $1.82 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.4%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 29th. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 275.76%.

About Brookfield Infrastructure Partners

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. NYSE: BIP is a publicly traded limited partnership that owns and operates a diversified portfolio of infrastructure assets across four core sectors: utilities, transport, energy and data infrastructure. Through long-lived, regulated or contracted assets, Brookfield Infrastructure provides essential services such as electricity transmission and distribution, toll road and port operations, midstream energy logistics and fiber-based data networks.

The company's utilities division encompasses regulated electricity and gas distribution networks in North and South America, Europe and Australia, ensuring stable cash flows under current regulatory frameworks.

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