Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. (NYSE:BIP) Shares Acquired by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. (NYSE:BIP) (TSE:BIP.UN) by 12.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 26,675,618 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,866,195 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.06% of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners worth $848,018,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Creative Planning grew its stake in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 0.6% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 67,445 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,363,000 after purchasing an additional 389 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates grew its stake in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 6.4% in the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 610,607 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $21,396,000 after purchasing an additional 36,806 shares during the period. Roof Eidam Maycock Peralta LLC bought a new stake in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $237,000. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its position in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 137.8% during the 3rd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 564,621 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $19,784,000 after acquiring an additional 327,143 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Eastern Bank bought a new stake in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $158,000. Institutional investors own 57.92% of the company’s stock.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Stock Performance

Shares of BIP opened at $32.83 on Monday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $32.37 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $33.10. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. has a 12 month low of $24.84 and a 12 month high of $36.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 820.86 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a current ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.72.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (NYSE:BIP) (TSE:BIP.UN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.24 by $0.58. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners had a net margin of 1.64% and a return on equity of 1.17%. As a group, analysts predict that Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. will post 3.45 EPS for the current year.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be issued a $0.43 dividend. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.24%. This is an increase from Brookfield Infrastructure Partners’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 4,051.01%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. StockNews.com upgraded Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 1st. TD Securities lifted their price target on Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from $50.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Scotiabank raised their price objective on Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. Raymond James raised their price objective on Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from $44.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $40.00 price target on shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in a report on Friday, January 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $42.50.

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.