Brookfield Business Partners (NYSE:BBU) Hits New 1-Year High - Time to Buy?

Brookfield Business Partners L.P. (NYSE:BBU - Get Free Report)'s stock price reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $24.20 and last traded at $24.20, with a volume of 472 shares. The stock had previously closed at $23.79.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $32.00 price objective on shares of Brookfield Business Partners in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $31.40.

Brookfield Business Partners Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.76 billion, a PE ratio of 3.74 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $20.88 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $20.03.

Brookfield Business Partners (NYSE:BBU - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Friday, August 2nd. The business services provider reported ($0.09) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.86 by ($0.95). Brookfield Business Partners had a net margin of 7.34% and a return on equity of 21.76%. The firm had revenue of $11.95 billion during the quarter. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.85 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Brookfield Business Partners L.P. will post 4.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Brookfield Business Partners Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 30th were paid a dividend of $0.0625 per share. This represents a $0.25 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.05%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 30th. Brookfield Business Partners's dividend payout ratio is presently 3.92%.

Institutional Trading of Brookfield Business Partners

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Partners Value Investments L.P. increased its position in Brookfield Business Partners by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Partners Value Investments L.P. now owns 2,941,062 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $60,527,000 after purchasing an additional 19,061 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can increased its position in Brookfield Business Partners by 3.1% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 767,726 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $15,036,000 after purchasing an additional 22,886 shares during the period. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp increased its position in Brookfield Business Partners by 12.7% during the 2nd quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 681,562 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $12,910,000 after purchasing an additional 77,017 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc increased its position in Brookfield Business Partners by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 160,426 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $3,328,000 after purchasing an additional 6,290 shares during the period. Finally, K2 Principal Fund L.P. grew its holdings in shares of Brookfield Business Partners by 58.3% in the 1st quarter. K2 Principal Fund L.P. now owns 156,353 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $3,455,000 after acquiring an additional 57,553 shares during the period. 85.04% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Brookfield Business Partners

Brookfield Business Partners L.P. is a private equity firm specializing in acquisition. The firm typically invests in business services, infrastructure services, construction, energy, and industrials sector. It prefers to take majority stake in companies. The firm seeks returns of at least 15% on its investments.