Sage Investment Counsel LLC Invests $1.19 Million in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. (NYSE:BIP)

Sage Investment Counsel LLC acquired a new position in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. (NYSE:BIP) (TSE:BIP.UN) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 37,500 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,192,000. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners accounts for about 1.6% of Sage Investment Counsel LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest holding.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in BIP. Compass Planning Associates Inc bought a new position in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners during the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Dunhill Financial LLC bought a new stake in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in the third quarter valued at about $30,000. Wingate Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in the fourth quarter valued at about $44,000. Finally, Truvestments Capital LLC bought a new stake in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in the third quarter valued at about $77,000. Institutional investors own 57.92% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on BIP. Raymond James upped their target price on shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from $44.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. TD Securities upped their target price on shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from $50.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. StockNews.com raised shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 1st. Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $40.00 target price on shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in a research note on Friday, January 31st. One equities research 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $42.50.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Price Performance

Shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners stock opened at $31.68 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 792.20 and a beta of 1.08. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. has a 1-year low of $24.84 and a 1-year high of $36.50. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $32.39 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $33.22.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (NYSE:BIP) (TSE:BIP.UN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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%. On average, equities analysts predict 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a dividend of $0.43 per share. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.43%. This is a positive change 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 is presently 4,300.00%.

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.