Brookfield Infrastructure Partners LP (NYSE:BIP) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners LP (NYSE:BIP) (TSE:BIP.UN) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the nine brokerages that are covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and six have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $42.1250.

Several brokerages have commented on BIP. Scotiabank restated an “outperform” rating and set a $44.00 target price on shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in a research report on Friday, January 16th. Morgan Stanley set a $45.00 price objective on shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. TD Securities reissued a “buy” rating and set a $57.00 price objective (up previously from $55.00) on shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in a report on Friday, January 30th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, November 8th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Price Performance

Shares of BIP opened at $38.55 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $35.73 and its two-hundred day moving average is $34.10. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners has a twelve month low of $25.72 and a twelve month high of $39.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.78 billion, a PE ratio of 42.83 and a beta of 1.12.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (NYSE:BIP) (TSE:BIP.UN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The utilities provider reported $0.45 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.87 by ($0.42). Brookfield Infrastructure Partners had a net margin of 4.40% and a return on equity of 3.22%. The business had revenue of $6.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.98 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.78 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Brookfield Infrastructure Partners will post 3.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 27th will be given a dividend of $0.455 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 27th. This is a positive change from Brookfield Infrastructure Partners’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. This represents a $1.82 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.7%. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 191.11%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 10.1% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 31,975,602 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,051,678,000 after acquiring an additional 2,933,287 shares during the last quarter. State of Wisconsin Investment Board grew its position in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 212.4% in the fourth quarter. State of Wisconsin Investment Board now owns 2,592,339 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $90,058,000 after purchasing an additional 1,762,436 shares during the last quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in the second quarter valued at approximately $46,203,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 68.4% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 3,243,218 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $112,669,000 after purchasing an additional 1,317,669 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised its position in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 61.4% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,343,528 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $116,154,000 after purchasing an additional 1,271,823 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.92% of the company’s stock.

About Brookfield Infrastructure Partners

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. (NYSE: BIP) is a publicly traded limited partnership that owns and operates a diversified portfolio of infrastructure assets across four core sectors: utilities, transport, energy and data infrastructure. Through long-lived, regulated or contracted assets, Brookfield Infrastructure provides essential services such as electricity transmission and distribution, toll road and port operations, midstream energy logistics and fiber-based data networks.

The company’s utilities division encompasses regulated electricity and gas distribution networks in North and South America, Europe and Australia, ensuring stable cash flows under current regulatory frameworks.