Short Interest in Brookfield Renewable Partners L.P. (NYSE:BEP) Increases By 22.9%

Brookfield Renewable Partners L.P. (NYSE:BEP - Get Free Report) TSE: BEP saw a large increase in short interest during the month of February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,200,000 shares, an increase of 22.9% from the January 31st total of 1,790,000 shares. Approximately 0.8% of the company's stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 740,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.0 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on BEP shares. CIBC decreased their price objective on shares of Brookfield Renewable Partners from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an "outperformer" rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of Brookfield Renewable Partners from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Brookfield Renewable Partners from $30.00 to $28.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. StockNews.com lowered shares of Brookfield Renewable Partners from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, National Bankshares decreased their target price on shares of Brookfield Renewable Partners from $32.00 to $30.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $30.50.

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Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of BEP. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in shares of Brookfield Renewable Partners during the 3rd quarter valued at about $28,000. Promus Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Brookfield Renewable Partners during the 4th quarter valued at about $37,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its holdings in shares of Brookfield Renewable Partners by 26.2% during the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 2,587 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $59,000 after purchasing an additional 537 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP bought a new position in shares of Brookfield Renewable Partners during the 4th quarter valued at about $68,000. Finally, Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Brookfield Renewable Partners by 81.4% during the 4th quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 3,099 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $71,000 after purchasing an additional 1,391 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 63.16% of the company's stock.

Brookfield Renewable Partners Stock Performance

Shares of BEP stock traded up $0.57 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $22.51. 489,934 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 834,880. Brookfield Renewable Partners has a 12 month low of $19.92 and a 12 month high of $29.56. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $22.13 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $24.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 0.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.42 billion, a PE ratio of -25.30 and a beta of 1.02.

Brookfield Renewable Partners (NYSE:BEP - Get Free Report) TSE: BEP last issued its earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The utilities provider reported ($0.06) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.22) by $0.16. Brookfield Renewable Partners had a negative net margin of 0.15% and a negative return on equity of 0.03%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.01 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Brookfield Renewable Partners will post -1.04 EPS for the current year.

Brookfield Renewable Partners Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th will be issued a $0.373 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $1.49 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.63%. This is an increase from Brookfield Renewable Partners's previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. Brookfield Renewable Partners's dividend payout ratio is currently -167.42%.

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.