Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Sells 3,151 Shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. (NYSE:BIP)

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC cut its stake in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. (NYSE:BIP) (TSE:BIP.UN) by 4.8% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 62,754 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 3,151 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners were worth $1,995,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in BIP. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 12.0% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 26,675,618 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $848,018,000 after purchasing an additional 2,866,195 shares during the period. Toronto Dominion Bank lifted its holdings in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 24.6% in the third quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 4,003,231 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $140,273,000 after buying an additional 790,078 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI boosted its position in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 5.4% during the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 2,550,270 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $89,362,000 after acquiring an additional 130,371 shares during the last quarter. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. grew its holdings in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 5.0% during the 4th quarter. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. now owns 829,187 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $26,337,000 after acquiring an additional 39,565 shares during the period. Finally, Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC raised its position in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC now owns 710,827 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $22,597,000 after acquiring an additional 23,374 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.92% of the company’s stock.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE BIP opened at $30.22 on Friday. 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 company has a 50-day moving average price of $31.36 and a 200-day moving average price of $32.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 755.79 and a beta of 1.10. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. has a 1 year low of $24.84 and a 1 year high of $36.50.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (NYSE:BIP) (TSE:BIP.UN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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, equities research analysts forecast that Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. will post 3.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.43 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.69%. This is an increase from Brookfield Infrastructure Partners’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners’s dividend payout ratio is 4,300.00%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on BIP shares. Scotiabank upped their target price on Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Raymond James increased their price target on Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from $44.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. TD Securities lifted their price objective on shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from $50.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. 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 reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $40.00 price target on shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in a research note on Tuesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Brookfield Infrastructure Partners presently 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.