Citigroup Inc. Increases Position in Brookfield Renewable Partners L.P. $BEP

Citigroup Inc. increased its stake in shares of Brookfield Renewable Partners L.P. (NYSE:BEP) (TSE:BEP) by 246.1% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 169,621 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 120,618 shares during the quarter. Citigroup Inc. owned about 0.06% of Brookfield Renewable Partners worth $4,373,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BEP. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Brookfield Renewable Partners by 16.2% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 10,127,549 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $261,189,000 after purchasing an additional 1,414,837 shares during the last quarter. Liontrust Investment Partners LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Brookfield Renewable Partners during the second quarter worth $24,180,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. grew its position in Brookfield Renewable Partners by 177.5% in the 2nd quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 984,840 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $25,126,000 after buying an additional 629,940 shares during the last quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management acquired a new position in Brookfield Renewable Partners in the 2nd quarter valued at $13,899,000. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in Brookfield Renewable Partners by 57.0% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 919,693 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $20,380,000 after buying an additional 333,789 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 63.16% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $39.00 target price (up from $38.00) on shares of Brookfield Renewable Partners in a report on Friday, December 5th. Desjardins raised Brookfield Renewable Partners to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 26th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce initiated coverage on Brookfield Renewable Partners in a research note on Wednesday. They set an “outperformer” rating and a $37.00 target price for the company. Scotiabank restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $35.00 price target (up from $30.00) on shares of Brookfield Renewable Partners in a research note on Thursday, November 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $38.00 price objective (up from $36.00) on shares of Brookfield Renewable Partners in a report on Monday, November 24th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $34.93.

Brookfield Renewable Partners Stock Performance

BEP opened at $30.42 on Thursday. Brookfield Renewable Partners L.P. has a 1-year low of $19.29 and a 1-year high of $32.78. The stock has a market cap of $8.64 billion, a P/E ratio of -117.00 and a beta of 1.13. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $29.42 and its 200 day simple moving average is $28.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.57 and a quick ratio of 0.58.

Brookfield Renewable Partners (NYSE:BEP) (TSE:BEP) last posted its earnings results on Friday, January 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.34) by $0.88. Brookfield Renewable Partners had a return on equity of 2.15% and a net margin of 11.11%.The company had revenue of $1.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.49 billion. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Brookfield Renewable Partners L.P. will post -1.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Brookfield Renewable Partners Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 27th will be issued a dividend of $0.392 per share. This is an increase from Brookfield Renewable Partners’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.37. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 27th. This represents a $1.57 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.2%. Brookfield Renewable Partners’s payout ratio is -603.85%.

About Brookfield Renewable Partners

Brookfield Renewable Partners L.P. is a leading global owner, operator and developer of renewable power assets. Listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker BEP, the partnership focuses on generating clean electricity from a diversified mix of hydroelectric, wind, solar and energy storage facilities. As part of the Brookfield Asset Management group, Brookfield Renewable leverages a long-term, asset-backed approach to investing in sustainable energy projects that support the transition to a low-carbon economy.

The company’s platform encompasses approximately 23,000 megawatts of installed capacity across four continents.