Clearbridge Investments LLC Sells 15,229 Shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. (NYSE:BIP)

Clearbridge Investments LLC cut its stake in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. (NYSE:BIP) (TSE:BIP.UN) by 1.3% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 1,167,098 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 15,229 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC’s holdings in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners were worth $37,102,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Promus Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Compass Planning Associates Inc acquired a new position in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Dunhill Financial LLC bought a new stake in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners during the third quarter valued at $30,000. Larson Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners during the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, Wingate Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.92% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on BIP. Scotiabank upped their target price on Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. StockNews.com raised shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 1st. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $40.00 target price on shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. TD Securities raised their price target on shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from $50.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Raymond James upped their price objective on shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from $44.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $42.50.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Stock Performance

BIP opened at $30.34 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $14.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 758.56 and a beta of 1.10. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $31.26 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $32.85. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. has a 1-year low of $24.84 and a 1-year high of $36.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.72.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (NYSE:BIP) (TSE:BIP.UN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.24 by $0.58. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners had a net margin of 1.64% and a return on equity of 1.17%. On average, analysts expect that Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. will post 3.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th were given a dividend of $0.43 per share. This is a boost from Brookfield Infrastructure Partners’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.67%. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners’s payout ratio is presently 4,300.00%.

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.