Clearbridge Investments LLC Has $32.62 Million Stock Position in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. (NYSE:BIP)

Clearbridge Investments LLC lessened its holdings in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. (NYSE:BIP) (TSE:BIP.UN) by 42.8% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 1,188,664 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 888,563 shares during the quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC’s holdings in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners were worth $32,617,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its position in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 16.0% in the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 37,032 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,016,000 after buying an additional 5,108 shares during the last quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 3.4% in the 2nd quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 18,068 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $496,000 after purchasing an additional 591 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning lifted its holdings in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 9.9% in the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 67,056 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,840,000 after purchasing an additional 6,024 shares during the last quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. boosted its position in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 29.6% during the second quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 4,202,842 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $115,326,000 after purchasing an additional 960,120 shares during the period. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its holdings in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 4.4% during the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 6,147,654 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $168,680,000 after purchasing an additional 257,587 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.92% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on BIP. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from $35.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. StockNews.com raised Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, September 15th. Finally, Cibc World Mkts raised Brookfield Infrastructure Partners to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Brookfield Infrastructure Partners has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $38.50.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BIP opened at $34.09 on Friday. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. has a one year low of $21.03 and a one year high of $35.48. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $32.17 and a 200 day simple moving average of $30.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 109.97 and a beta of 1.05.

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

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 30th were issued a $0.405 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 30th. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.75%. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners’s 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.