Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. (NYSE:BIP) Shares Sold by Commonwealth Equity Services LLC

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lessened its stake in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. (NYSE:BIP) (TSE:BIP.UN) by 5.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 70,660 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 3,860 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners were worth $1,939,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of BIP. CIBC Asset Management Inc increased its stake in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 20.0% during the 4th quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 6,681,918 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $211,259,000 after buying an additional 1,112,217 shares in the last quarter. Gold Investment Management Ltd. acquired a new position in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in the 4th quarter valued at $5,330,000. Synergy Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in the 1st quarter valued at $4,919,000. Brown Advisory Inc. boosted its stake in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 11.0% during the 4th quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 385,416 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $12,137,000 after purchasing an additional 38,216 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Forge First Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 92.5% during the first quarter. Forge First Asset Management Inc. now owns 201,600 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,286,000 after buying an additional 96,890 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.92% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on BIP shares. Cibc World Mkts raised shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. StockNews.com cut Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, September 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Brookfield Infrastructure Partners has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $37.56.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Price Performance

Shares of BIP opened at $33.15 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $31.06 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $29.53. The stock has a market cap of $15.38 billion, a PE ratio of 106.94 and a beta of 1.05. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. has a 1-year low of $21.03 and a 1-year high of $33.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.76.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (NYSE:BIP) (TSE:BIP.UN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported ($0.10) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.70 by ($0.80). Brookfield Infrastructure Partners had a net margin of 0.82% and a return on equity of 0.51%. The company had revenue of $5.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.91 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.72 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. will post 3.15 EPS for the current year.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 30th will be given a dividend of $0.405 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 30th. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.89%. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners’s dividend payout ratio is presently 522.58%.

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.