Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (NYSE:BIP) Sets New 52-Week High – Still a Buy?

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners LP (NYSE:BIP) (TSE:BIP.UN) shares reached a new 52-week high on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $36.12 and last traded at $36.11, with a volume of 102945 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $35.80.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $40.00 price objective on shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 27th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $37.00 price objective on Brookfield Infrastructure Partners and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. National Bank Financial upgraded Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 25th. Finally, National Bankshares set a $35.00 target price on shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 26th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $40.43.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $34.07 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $32.77. The stock has a market cap of $16.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 721.42 and a beta of 1.14.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (NYSE:BIP) (TSE:BIP.UN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.44 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.86 by ($0.42). The business had revenue of $5.98 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.05 billion. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners had a return on equity of 1.15% and a net margin of 1.54%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.76 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Brookfield Infrastructure Partners LP will post 3.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.43 per share. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 28th. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners’s payout ratio is presently 256.72%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Brookfield Infrastructure Partners

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of BIP. SouthState Corp bought a new stake in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in the first quarter worth $37,000. Westfuller Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners during the third quarter worth $44,000. City Holding Co. bought a new position in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in the third quarter worth about $59,000. Caldwell Trust Co purchased a new position in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in the 2nd quarter worth about $66,000. Finally, AdvisorNet Financial Inc lifted its holdings in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 17.7% during the 3rd quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 2,160 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $71,000 after buying an additional 325 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.92% of the company’s stock.

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.