The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Sells 555,579 Shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. (NYSE:BIP)

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lessened its holdings in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. (NYSE:BIP) (TSE:BIP.UN) by 9.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,539,281 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 555,579 shares during the quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company owned 1.19% of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners worth $176,128,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Promus Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Larson Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Wingate Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Finally, Stonebridge Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in the fourth quarter worth $44,000. Institutional investors own 57.92% of the company’s stock.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Stock Performance

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners stock opened at $29.12 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.72, a current ratio of 0.08 and a quick ratio of 0.72. The stock has a market cap of $13.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 728.18 and a beta of 1.04. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $29.38 and a 200-day simple moving average of $32.04. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. has a 1-year low of $25.72 and a 1-year high of $36.50.

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

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th were given a dividend of $0.43 per share. This is an increase from Brookfield Infrastructure Partners’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.91%. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 4,300.00%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners 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.