Jefferies Financial Group Raises Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (NYSE:BIP) Price Target to $39.00

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (NYSE:BIP) (TSE:BIP.UN) had its target price hoisted by research analysts at Jefferies Financial Group from $35.00 to $39.00 in a report released on Monday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “buy” rating on the utilities provider’s stock. Jefferies Financial Group’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 10.42% from the stock’s current price.

Several other research analysts have also commented on the company. StockNews.com raised Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, September 15th. Cibc World Mkts upgraded Brookfield Infrastructure Partners to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $38.50.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Stock Performance

Shares of BIP stock traded up $0.13 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $35.32. 96,138 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 449,958. The company has a market cap of $16.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 113.94 and a beta of 1.05. The company’s 50 day moving average is $31.90 and its two-hundred day moving average is $29.89. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners has a 1 year low of $21.03 and a 1 year high of $35.48. 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 announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported ($0.10) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.91 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.72 EPS. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners’s quarterly revenue was up 20.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Brookfield Infrastructure Partners will post 3.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Capital World Investors grew its stake in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 8.9% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 38,365,956 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,198,095,000 after buying an additional 3,141,038 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 8.5% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 21,652,827 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $675,785,000 after purchasing an additional 1,701,587 shares during the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. lifted its holdings in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 9.6% in the fourth quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 19,209,097 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $604,894,000 after buying an additional 1,678,140 shares during the period. Wulff Hansen & CO. lifted its holdings in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 2,562.9% in the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 1,615,448 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $44,328,000 after buying an additional 1,554,782 shares during the period. Finally, CCLA Investment Management raised its holdings in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 35.0% in the second quarter. CCLA Investment Management now owns 4,341,905 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $119,180,000 after purchasing an additional 1,125,964 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 57.92% of the company’s stock.

About Brookfield Infrastructure Partners

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.