ING Groep NV Sells 94,000 Shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. (NYSE:BIP)

ING Groep NV lowered its stake in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. (NYSE:BIP) (TSE:BIP.UN) by 42.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 125,452 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 94,000 shares during the quarter. ING Groep NV’s holdings in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners were worth $3,988,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Dunhill Financial LLC bought a new stake in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners during the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. Wingate Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners during the fourth quarter valued at about $44,000. Truvestments Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners during the third quarter worth about $77,000. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new stake in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in the third quarter worth about $101,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.92% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BIP has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. TD Securities upped their price target on Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from $50.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Raymond James upped their target price 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. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $40.00 price target on shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in a report on Friday, January 31st. Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $42.50.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Stock Down 1.3 %

Shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners stock opened at $32.99 on Friday. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. has a 1 year low of $24.84 and a 1 year high of $36.50. The firm has a market cap of $15.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 824.96 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a 50-day moving average of $32.33 and a 200 day moving average of $33.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.72, a current ratio of 0.08 and a quick ratio of 0.72.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (NYSE:BIP) (TSE:BIP.UN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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, sell-side analysts anticipate that Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. will post 3.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.43 per share. This is a boost from Brookfield Infrastructure Partners’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.21%. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners’s payout ratio is presently 4,051.01%.

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.