Brookfield Renewable Partners (NYSE:BEP) Lowered to “Sell” Rating by StockNews.com

StockNews.com downgraded shares of Brookfield Renewable Partners (NYSE:BEP) (TSE:BEP) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note released on Thursday morning.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on BEP. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Brookfield Renewable Partners from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $30.00 price target on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 12th. CIBC lifted their price target on Brookfield Renewable Partners from $33.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “outperformer” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $31.00 price objective on shares of Brookfield Renewable Partners in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. National Bankshares dropped their target price 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. Finally, UBS Group upgraded shares of Brookfield Renewable Partners from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $24.00 to $31.00 in a research note on Monday, September 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Brookfield Renewable Partners presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $31.78.

Brookfield Renewable Partners Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BEP opened at $23.06 on Thursday. Brookfield Renewable Partners has a 12 month low of $19.92 and a 12 month high of $29.56. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $25.21 and a 200-day moving average of $25.36. The company has a current ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93. The company has a market capitalization of $6.57 billion, a P/E ratio of -28.12 and a beta of 0.93.

Brookfield Renewable Partners (NYSE:BEP) (TSE:BEP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 8th. The utilities provider reported ($0.32) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.04) by ($0.28). The company had revenue of $1.47 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $843.18 million. Brookfield Renewable Partners had a return on equity of 0.24% and a net margin of 1.16%. During the same period last year, the firm earned ($0.14) earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Brookfield Renewable Partners will post -0.88 EPS for the current year.

Brookfield Renewable Partners Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be paid a dividend of $0.355 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th. This represents a $1.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.16%. Brookfield Renewable Partners’s payout ratio is -173.17%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Brookfield Renewable Partners by 4.5% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 7,605,679 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $214,328,000 after purchasing an additional 330,648 shares during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new stake in shares of Brookfield Renewable Partners during the 3rd quarter worth $28,000. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in Brookfield Renewable Partners by 40.6% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 7,047 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $199,000 after buying an additional 2,036 shares in the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank raised its stake in Brookfield Renewable Partners by 11.1% during the third quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 1,735,462 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $48,905,000 after acquiring an additional 173,882 shares in the last quarter. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI lifted its holdings in shares of Brookfield Renewable Partners by 2.6% in the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 1,040,674 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $29,326,000 after acquiring an additional 25,916 shares during the last quarter. 63.16% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.