Brookfield Renewable Partners L.P. (NYSE:BEP) Short Interest Up 8.8% in December

Brookfield Renewable Partners L.P. (NYSE:BEP - Get Free Report) TSE: BEP was the target of a significant growth in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,110,000 shares, a growth of 8.8% from the December 15th total of 1,020,000 shares. Currently, 0.4% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 533,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.1 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Brookfield Renewable Partners

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Brookfield Renewable Partners by 86.5% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 953 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 442 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new position in shares of Brookfield Renewable Partners in the third quarter worth approximately $28,000. Waverton Investment Management Ltd bought a new stake in Brookfield Renewable Partners in the third quarter valued at approximately $178,000. Barclays PLC increased its position in Brookfield Renewable Partners by 40.6% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 7,047 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $199,000 after purchasing an additional 2,036 shares during the period. Finally, Creative Planning bought a new position in Brookfield Renewable Partners during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $206,000. Institutional investors own 63.16% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BEP has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group upgraded Brookfield Renewable Partners from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price target for the company from $24.00 to $31.00 in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $31.00 price target on shares of Brookfield Renewable Partners in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. National Bankshares reduced their price objective on Brookfield Renewable Partners from $33.00 to $32.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. StockNews.com lowered Brookfield Renewable Partners from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Thursday, December 26th. Finally, CIBC lifted their target price on Brookfield Renewable Partners from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, January 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $32.44.

Brookfield Renewable Partners Price Performance

Shares of BEP traded down $0.29 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $20.64. The company had a trading volume of 1,121,749 shares, compared to its average volume of 414,074. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $23.91 and its 200 day simple moving average is $25.06. The company has a market capitalization of $5.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -25.17 and a beta of 0.95. Brookfield Renewable Partners has a 1-year low of $19.92 and a 1-year high of $29.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 0.73.

Brookfield Renewable Partners (NYSE:BEP - Get Free Report) TSE: BEP last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 8th. The utilities provider reported ($0.32) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.04) by ($0.28). Brookfield Renewable Partners had a net margin of 1.16% and a return on equity of 0.24%. The firm had revenue of $1.47 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $843.18 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($0.14) earnings per share. Analysts expect that Brookfield Renewable Partners will post -0.88 EPS for the current year.

Brookfield Renewable Partners Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 29th were issued a dividend of $0.355 per share. This represents a $1.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.88%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 29th. Brookfield Renewable Partners's payout ratio is -173.17%.

About Brookfield Renewable Partners

Brookfield Renewable Partners L.P. owns a portfolio of renewable power generating facilities primarily in North America, Colombia, and Brazil. The company generates electricity through hydroelectric, wind, solar, distributed generation, and pumped storage, as well as renewable natural gas, carbon capture and storage, recycling, cogeneration biomass, nuclear services, and power transformation.