Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (NYSE:BIP) Given New $34.00 Price Target at Jefferies Financial Group

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

BIP has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Raymond James raised their target price on shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a strong-buy rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. TD Securities reduced their price objective on 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 Bank Financial downgraded Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from an outperform rating to a sector perform rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. National Bankshares cut Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from an outperform rating to a sector perform rating and set a $32.00 price target for the company. in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. Three equities research 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. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $38.60.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Stock Up 2.2 %

Shares of BIP stock opened at $25.60 on Wednesday. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners has a 52-week low of $21.03 and a 52-week high of $37.32. The stock has a market cap of $11.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 182.87 and a beta of 0.95. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $29.43 and its 200-day moving average is $28.68. 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 issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The utilities provider reported ($0.20) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.79 by ($0.99). Brookfield Infrastructure Partners had a return on equity of 0.79% and a net margin of 1.34%. The business had revenue of $4.97 billion for the quarter. Sell-side analysts predict that Brookfield Infrastructure Partners will post 3.32 EPS for the current year.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 29th were given a dividend of $0.405 per share. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.33%. This is an increase from Brookfield Infrastructure Partners’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 28th. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners’s dividend payout ratio is presently 1,157.23%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Triasima Portfolio Management inc. bought a new stake in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in the 4th quarter worth approximately $12,322,000. Dixon Mitchell Investment Counsel Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 71.2% in the fourth quarter. Dixon Mitchell Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 765,686 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $24,266,000 after purchasing an additional 318,398 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc increased its stake in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 1.1% in the third quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 5,569,701 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $163,953,000 after buying an additional 60,510 shares during the period. Nexus Investment Management ULC raised its holdings in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 8.2% during the 4th quarter. Nexus Investment Management ULC now owns 1,119,440 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $35,393,000 after buying an additional 84,749 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James & Associates boosted its position in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 9.3% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 538,703 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $15,838,000 after buying an additional 45,880 shares during the period. 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.