Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (NYSE:BIP) Raised to "Hold" at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (NYSE:BIP - Free Report) TSE: BIP.UN from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Saturday.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. TD Securities boosted their target price on shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from $49.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Raymond James boosted their price objective on 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. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $40.00 target price on shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in a research note on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Brookfield Infrastructure Partners presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $42.80.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Stock Performance

Shares of BIP stock traded up $0.67 on Friday, hitting $32.70. 699,841 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 387,706. The firm's 50 day moving average is $32.68 and its two-hundred day moving average is $33.00. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners has a one year low of $24.84 and a one year high of $36.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.18 billion, a PE ratio of 817.75 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 - Get Free Report) TSE: BIP.UN last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.82 EPS 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%. Sell-side analysts expect that Brookfield Infrastructure Partners will post 3.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a dividend of $0.43 per share. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.26%. This is a boost 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 payout ratio is presently 4,051.01%.

Institutional Trading of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 2.2% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 73,734 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $2,023,000 after acquiring an additional 1,612 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning lifted its stake in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 9.9% during the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 67,056 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,840,000 after purchasing an additional 6,024 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its holdings in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 16.0% in the 2nd quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 37,032 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,016,000 after purchasing an additional 5,108 shares in the last quarter. Value Partners Investments Inc. bought a new position in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners during the 3rd quarter valued at about $596,000. Finally, Inspire Investing LLC purchased a new position in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners during the 3rd quarter valued at about $894,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.92% of the company's stock.

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.