Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. (NYSE:BIP) Short Interest Update

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. (NYSE:BIP) (TSE:BIP.UN) was the target of a large decrease in short interest during the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,680,000 shares, a decrease of 5.1% from the August 31st total of 1,770,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 381,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.4 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Brookfield Infrastructure Partners

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of BIP. Bank & Trust Co bought a new position in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in the second quarter worth $31,000. Clear Point Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in the first quarter worth approximately $33,000. Bromfield Sneider Wealth Advisors purchased a new stake in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in the first quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Park Place Capital Corp bought a new stake in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners during the second quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Finally, Asset Dedication LLC purchased a new position in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $46,000. 57.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on BIP. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from $35.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Cibc World Mkts upgraded shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, September 15th. Three research 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 company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $38.50.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BIP traded down $0.15 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $35.04. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 293,510 shares, compared to its average volume of 451,196. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 113.03 and a beta of 1.05. 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 stock has a fifty day moving average price of $31.90 and a 200 day moving average price of $29.90. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners has a one year low of $21.03 and a one year high of $35.48.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.70 by ($0.80). The company had revenue of $5.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.91 billion. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners had a return on equity of 0.51% and a net margin of 0.82%. The company’s revenue was up 20.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.72 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Brookfield Infrastructure Partners will post 3.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 30th were issued a dividend of $0.405 per share. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 30th. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners’s payout ratio is presently 522.58%.

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.