Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (NYSE:BIP) Price Target Raised to $39.00 at Jefferies Financial Group

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (NYSE:BIP) (TSE:BIP.UN) had its price objective boosted by Jefferies Financial Group from $35.00 to $39.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday, Benzinga reports. Jefferies Financial Group currently has a buy rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on the company. Cibc World Mkts upgraded Brookfield Infrastructure Partners to a strong-buy rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report on Sunday, September 15th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Brookfield Infrastructure Partners has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $38.50.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Price Performance

BIP stock opened at $34.27 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $15.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 110.55 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $32.04 and a 200-day moving average price of $29.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.81. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners has a 52-week low of $21.03 and a 52-week high of $35.48.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (NYSE:BIP) (TSE:BIP.UN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported ($0.10) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.70 by ($0.80). Brookfield Infrastructure Partners had a return on equity of 0.51% and a net margin of 0.82%. The company had revenue of $5.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.91 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.72 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 20.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Brookfield Infrastructure Partners will post 3.15 EPS for the current year.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 30th were paid a $0.405 dividend. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 30th. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 522.58%.

Institutional Trading of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Synergy Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in the first quarter valued at approximately $4,919,000. Forge First Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 92.5% in the first quarter. Forge First Asset Management Inc. now owns 201,600 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $6,286,000 after buying an additional 96,890 shares in the last quarter. Coronation Fund Managers Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 46.4% during the first quarter. Coronation Fund Managers Ltd. now owns 97,038 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,029,000 after buying an additional 30,737 shares during the last quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC bought a new stake in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners during the first quarter worth about $1,913,000. Finally, AGF Management Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 26.1% in the 2nd quarter. AGF Management Ltd. now owns 3,204,547 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $88,027,000 after acquiring an additional 663,726 shares during the last quarter. 57.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.