Bank of Nova Scotia Trims Holdings in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners LP $BIP

Bank of Nova Scotia decreased its position in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners LP (NYSE:BIP) (TSE:BIP.UN) by 13.7% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,863,654 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 453,962 shares during the quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia owned 0.62% of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners worth $94,372,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Creative Planning lifted its stake in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 57.9% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 103,485 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,404,000 after acquiring an additional 37,949 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. increased its stake in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 19.2% in the third quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 864,386 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $28,430,000 after acquiring an additional 139,411 shares during the period. Scotia Capital Inc. increased its stake in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 6.2% in the third quarter. Scotia Capital Inc. now owns 7,367,383 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $241,967,000 after acquiring an additional 431,557 shares during the period. Two Sigma Investments LP raised its holdings in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 261.5% during the third quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 795,453 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $26,162,000 after purchasing an additional 575,423 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 6.5% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,284,053 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $75,123,000 after purchasing an additional 138,693 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.92% of the company’s stock.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Stock Down 0.5%

BIP opened at $37.69 on Monday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $36.91 and a two-hundred day moving average of $34.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.88 and a beta of 1.10. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners LP has a fifty-two week low of $25.72 and a fifty-two week high of $40.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.08.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (NYSE:BIP) (TSE:BIP.UN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The utilities provider reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.87 by ($0.42). Brookfield Infrastructure Partners had a return on equity of 3.22% and a net margin of 4.40%.The firm had revenue of $6.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.98 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.78 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Brookfield Infrastructure Partners LP will post 3.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, February 27th will be issued a $0.455 dividend. This represents a $1.82 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 27th. This is a positive change from Brookfield Infrastructure Partners’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners’s payout ratio is currently 202.22%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BIP has been the topic of several recent research reports. National Bank Financial upped their price target on shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $44.00 target price on shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in a research note on Friday, January 30th. TD Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $57.00 target price (up from $55.00) on shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in a report on Friday, January 30th. Scotiabank reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $44.00 price target on shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in a research report on Friday, January 16th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $42.13.

About Brookfield Infrastructure Partners

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. (NYSE: BIP) is a publicly traded limited partnership that owns and operates a diversified portfolio of infrastructure assets across four core sectors: utilities, transport, energy and data infrastructure. Through long-lived, regulated or contracted assets, Brookfield Infrastructure provides essential services such as electricity transmission and distribution, toll road and port operations, midstream energy logistics and fiber-based data networks.

The company’s utilities division encompasses regulated electricity and gas distribution networks in North and South America, Europe and Australia, ensuring stable cash flows under current regulatory frameworks.