Royal Bank of Canada Reduces Holdings in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners LP $BIP

Key Points

• Royal Bank of Canada has reduced its stake in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 7.8%, owning approximately 42.1 million shares valued at about $1.25 billion after selling nearly 3.6 million shares.
• Brookfield Infrastructure Partners declared a quarterly dividend of $0.43 per share, which represents an annualized dividend of $1.72 and a yield of 5.5%.
• Analysts have mixed views on Brookfield's stock, with ratings ranging from strong buy to hold, and a consensus price target of $41.00.

Royal Bank of Canada lessened its stake in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners LP (NYSE:BIP - Free Report) TSE: BIP.UN by 7.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 42,113,502 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 3,578,997 shares during the quarter. Royal Bank of Canada owned 9.07% of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners worth $1,254,562,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in BIP. North Capital Inc. purchased a new position in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners during the 1st quarter valued at about $35,000. SouthState Corp purchased a new position in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners during the 1st quarter valued at about $37,000. Parallel Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners during the 1st quarter valued at about $45,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its holdings 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 valued at $68,000 after acquiring an additional 1,906 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pandora Wealth Inc. purchased a new position in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners during the 1st quarter valued at about $80,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.92% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have weighed in on BIP shares. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in a report on Friday, August 29th. They set a "buy" rating and a $35.00 target price for the company. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $40.00 price target on shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 27th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, August 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $41.00.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Trading Down 0.6%

BIP stock traded down $0.20 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $30.44. 419,346 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 518,134. The company has a market capitalization of $14.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 608.94 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.85. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners LP has a fifty-two week low of $25.72 and a fifty-two week high of $36.50. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $31.71 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $31.17.

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

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Dividend Announcement

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 given a dividend of $0.43 per share. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 29th. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners's payout ratio is 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.