Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (NYSE:BIP) Upgraded at National Bank Financial

National Bank Financial upgraded shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (NYSE:BIP) (TSE:BIP.UN) from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday morning,Zacks.com reports.

BIP has been the subject of a number of other reports. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, September 6th. National Bankshares set a $35.00 price objective on shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in a research report on Friday, August 29th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $35.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada set a $40.00 price objective on shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 27th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $40.14.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Price Performance

BIP opened at $33.08 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $15.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 661.81 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $31.02 and a 200-day moving average price of $31.16. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners has a twelve month low of $25.72 and a twelve month high of $36.50.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (NYSE:BIP) (TSE:BIP.UN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.82 by ($0.01). Brookfield Infrastructure Partners had a return on equity of 1.15% and a net margin of 1.54%.The business had revenue of $5.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.95 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.77 EPS. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Brookfield Infrastructure Partners will post 3.45 EPS for the current year.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 29th will be given a dividend of $0.43 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 29th. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.2%. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners’s payout ratio is presently 3,440.00%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Brookfield Infrastructure Partners

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in BIP. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 11.0% in the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 46,374 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,474,000 after acquiring an additional 4,614 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 947.1% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 9,026 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $269,000 after purchasing an additional 8,164 shares during the period. Parallel Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners during the 1st quarter valued at $45,000. NBC Securities Inc. grew its position in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 120,467.6% in the 1st quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 40,993 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,221,000 after buying an additional 40,959 shares during the period. Finally, Epiq Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 13.8% in the 1st quarter. Epiq Partners LLC now owns 103,187 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,074,000 after buying an additional 12,550 shares during the period. 57.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.