Value Partners Investments Inc. Grows Position in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners LP $BIP

Key Points

• Value Partners Investments Inc. significantly increased its stake in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 99.5% during the 2nd quarter, raising its holdings to 47,294 shares valued at approximately $1.58 million.
• Several other hedge funds also enhanced their positions in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners, with entities like CCLA Investment Management and BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp increasing their stakes by 33.5% and 713.3%, respectively.
• Analysts have recently issued mixed ratings on the stock, with Wall Street Zen downgrading it to a "sell" while Jefferies Financial Group rated it as a "buy" with a price target of $35.00.

Value Partners Investments Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners LP (NYSE:BIP - Free Report) TSE: BIP.UN by 99.5% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 47,294 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 23,582 shares during the quarter. Value Partners Investments Inc.'s holdings in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners were worth $1,581,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of BIP. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 15.0% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 374,347 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $11,900,000 after buying an additional 48,787 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 11.0% during the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 46,374 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,474,000 after purchasing an additional 4,614 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its holdings in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 6.4% during the 4th quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 39,968 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,271,000 after purchasing an additional 2,401 shares in the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth increased its holdings in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 103.3% during the 4th quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 22,803 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $759,000 after purchasing an additional 11,587 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Waverly Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $344,000. 57.92% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BIP has been the subject of several recent research reports. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Saturday, September 6th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $40.00 target price on shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 27th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group initiated 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $41.00.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Price Performance

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners stock traded up $0.01 during trading on Friday, reaching $31.08. The company had a trading volume of 261,208 shares, compared to its average volume of 516,302. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $31.12 and its 200 day simple moving average is $31.03. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners LP has a 1-year low of $25.72 and a 1-year high of $36.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.41 billion, a PE ratio of 622.62 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.88.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (NYSE:BIP - Get Free Report) TSE: BIP.UN last released 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). Brookfield Infrastructure Partners had a net margin of 1.54% and a return on equity of 1.15%. The company had revenue of $5.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.95 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.77 EPS. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners's revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Brookfield Infrastructure Partners LP will post 3.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 29th will be issued a dividend of $0.43 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 29th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.5%. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners's dividend payout ratio is presently 3,440.00%.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Company 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.