Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (NYSE:BIP) PT Lowered to $34.00 at Jefferies Financial Group

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (NYSE:BIP) (TSE:BIP.UN) had its target price trimmed by Jefferies Financial Group from $37.00 to $34.00 in a research report released on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a buy rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. TD Securities dropped their price objective on shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from $47.00 to $46.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 2nd. National Bankshares cut Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from an outperform rating to a sector perform rating and set a $32.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. National Bank Financial cut Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from an outperform rating to a sector perform rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Raymond James upped their price target on Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a strong-buy rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Brookfield Infrastructure Partners presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $38.60.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Stock Up 3.4 %

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners stock opened at $27.17 on Wednesday. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners has a fifty-two week low of $21.03 and a fifty-two week high of $37.32. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $29.34 and a 200 day moving average price of $28.66. The company has a market capitalization of $12.53 billion, a PE ratio of 194.09 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a current ratio of 0.68.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (NYSE:BIP) (TSE:BIP.UN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The utilities provider reported ($0.20) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.79 by ($0.99). Brookfield Infrastructure Partners had a net margin of 1.34% and a return on equity of 0.79%. The firm had revenue of $4.97 billion during the quarter. Research analysts expect that Brookfield Infrastructure Partners will post 3.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 29th were issued a $0.405 dividend. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.96%. This is an increase from Brookfield Infrastructure Partners’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 28th. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners’s dividend payout ratio is 1,157.23%.

Institutional Trading of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BIP. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Heritage Wealth Advisors acquired a new position in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 8,107.7% during the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 1,067 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 1,054 shares during the last quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp grew its holdings in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 197.1% during the first quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,141 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 757 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clear Street Markets LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners during the fourth quarter worth about $38,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.92% of the company’s stock.

About Brookfield Infrastructure Partners

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.