Brookfield Renewable Partners (NYSE:BEP) Downgraded by StockNews.com to Sell

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

A number of other brokerages also recently weighed in on BEP. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $31.00 target price on shares of Brookfield Renewable Partners in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. CIBC lowered their target price on shares of Brookfield Renewable Partners from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “outperformer” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Scotiabank lifted their target price on shares of Brookfield Renewable Partners from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered 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. Finally, National Bankshares lowered 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 analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $30.50.

Brookfield Renewable Partners Price Performance

BEP stock opened at $23.12 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $22.23 and a 200-day moving average price of $24.50. The company has a market capitalization of $6.59 billion, a P/E ratio of -25.98 and a beta of 0.95. Brookfield Renewable Partners has a 52-week low of $19.92 and a 52-week 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 0.25.

Brookfield Renewable Partners (NYSE:BEP) (TSE:BEP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The utilities provider reported ($0.06) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.01 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Brookfield Renewable Partners will post -1.04 EPS for the current year.

Brookfield Renewable Partners Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be issued a $0.373 dividend. This represents a $1.49 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.45%. This is a boost from Brookfield Renewable Partners’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. Brookfield Renewable Partners’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -167.42%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Brookfield Renewable Partners

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of BEP. CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its holdings in Brookfield Renewable Partners by 23.8% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 8,472,170 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $192,605,000 after purchasing an additional 1,628,524 shares during the period. AGF Management Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Brookfield Renewable Partners by 3,234.7% during the fourth quarter. AGF Management Ltd. now owns 1,588,410 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $36,681,000 after buying an additional 1,540,777 shares during the last quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Brookfield Renewable Partners during the third quarter valued at about $42,331,000. National Bank of Canada FI grew its holdings in shares of Brookfield Renewable Partners by 102.4% during the fourth quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 2,106,264 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $48,023,000 after buying an additional 1,065,590 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Nova Scotia grew its holdings in shares of Brookfield Renewable Partners by 31.8% during the fourth quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 2,338,940 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $53,263,000 after buying an additional 564,515 shares during the last quarter. 63.16% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.