Brookfield Infrastructure Partners LP $BIP Shares Bought by Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P.

Key Points

• Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. increased its holdings in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 60% during the first quarter, owning 114,012 shares valued at approximately $3.39 million.
• Analysts have a current consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" for Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (NYSE:BIP), with a target price of $41.67.
• The company recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.43, corresponding to an annualized yield of 5.8% and a notably high dividend payout ratio of 3,440%.

Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. raised its position in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners LP (NYSE:BIP - Free Report) TSE: BIP.UN by 60.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 114,012 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 42,776 shares during the period. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P.'s holdings in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners were worth $3,394,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 3.5% in 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 purchasing an additional 945,462 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its stake in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 8.0% in the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 8,784,509 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $278,858,000 after purchasing an additional 650,892 shares during the last quarter. Scotia Capital Inc. increased its stake in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 4.3% in the first quarter. Scotia Capital Inc. now owns 6,709,573 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $197,811,000 after purchasing an additional 277,192 shares during the last quarter. CCLA Investment Management increased its stake in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 33.5% in the first quarter. CCLA Investment Management now owns 5,795,677 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $172,537,000 after purchasing an additional 1,453,772 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AGF Management Ltd. increased its stake in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 18.6% in the first quarter. AGF Management Ltd. now owns 2,722,101 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $80,980,000 after purchasing an additional 426,248 shares during the last quarter. 57.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on BIP. Citigroup dropped their target price on Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from $34.00 to $31.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Wall Street Zen raised Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $41.67.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Trading Up 2.1%

BIP stock traded up $0.63 during trading on Friday, reaching $30.66. 973,370 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 506,899. The business's 50 day moving average price is $31.96 and its 200-day moving average price is $31.27. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners LP has a 52-week low of $25.72 and a 52-week high of $36.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.21 billion, a PE ratio of 613.32 and a beta of 1.09.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (NYSE:BIP - Get Free Report) TSE: BIP.UN last posted 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). The firm had revenue of $5.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.95 billion. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners had a net margin of 1.54% and a return on equity of 1.15%. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners's revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.77 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Brookfield Infrastructure Partners LP will post 3.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 29th will be paid a dividend of $0.43 per share. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.6%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 29th. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners's payout ratio is currently 3,440.00%.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners 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.